Curse of Two Worlds
by Beta the Second
Summary: HPxNaruto crossover. Naruto returns from another ANBU mission to recieve an assignment to guard an entire school while training green ANBU members to be the pride of the village. But can he pull it off with the Akatsuki leader watching his every move?
1. Chapter 1

I know I shouldn't have, but the plot bunnies attacked me! They feast upon my brain, turning it to rot until I write new stories. I promise I'll work on my other stories soon. I'm going to rewrite both stories to add a bit more freedom to me and actually write a storyboard for both of them.

Note: This _is _a Harry Potter x Naruto crossover. I've tried to keep it strictly original, but I'd like to ask everyone if they've seen anything bordering very close to this already posted before the date I began this (July 8, 2006) so that I do not accidentally end up posting the same story someone else already wrote. If you read my bio you should get a close enough idea to what my story is sauntering to. If you need more details tell me and I'll try and help.

Another note: I've decided that the people who randomly found this story and quit reading after the first chapter should know something. **In the second chapter Naruto actually gets to Hogwarts. **I know that the first chapter seems bland compared to most of the other HP x Naruto crossovers out there, but I need a base to work with. I just ask that before you close this story before reaching the end that you at least check the next chapter. I'm not asking you to read the entire story, just the second chapter. Thank you. (This note was written 7-29-06.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter and neither do you (most likely).

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The sky around Konoha held few clouds. The young ANBU Captain sighed in relief as he saw that it wasn't going to rain as predicted. The rain always did ruin his opportunities to enjoy what little of Konoha he saw when he returned briefly from a mission.

The blond teenager that was the captain breathed in a huge breath of relief when he saw his favorite ramen stand. Word had come on an extended mission that the stand was nearly forced to close thanks to some new restaurant in town. With a huge smile plastered on his face Uzumaki Naruto assaulted Ichiraku's ramen supplies. Who cared about the fact Baa-chan was to give him a mission? He had ramen, the food of the gods!

After finishing his task of depleting a fourth of his ANBU salary the teenage captain finally went over to the Hokage's Tower. Upon entering the building no one tried to stop their Wolf-masked jinchuuriki from entering freely. After all, one isn't named ANBU _Captain_ at age eighteen for nothing, and those who didn't know how strong he was didn't want to find out.

With a great grin hidden by the porcelain mask the spiky blond man entered the Hokage's office with barely a nod from the guards. They were all told to let the man enter as he pleased so long that no important things he shouldn't know about were going on inside unless they were prepared to meet the wrath of Tsunade.

"Baa-chan," stated the ANBU Captain. Tsunade just sighed as the words sounded so out of place coming from the calmer persona of Naruto, that and the part about him not lifting his mask. That only meant he wanted to go out again.

"Captain, are you here to accept your next mission?" she asked, cutting to the chase. Her eyes saddened for a few seconds, but the Captain caught it.

Behind the mask Naruto licked his suddenly dry lips. Either she was missing the loud brat that would come when he wasn't in ANBU uniform or this mission was going to be hard. "Hai, Baa-chan."

"Before I hand this to you, I'm going to tell you that this mission is being used to train a few of the newer ANBU. They'll be coming and going every now and then so you'll officially be taking the mission, not them," she warned the man, knowing that he'd hate her for it. But there was really no better way to train the green ANBU. She nearly laughed at the groan her "little brother" held back.

_Out in the middle of Tea Country…_

_The newly instated ANBU Captain watched his target lazily watch as his "workers" plowed the fields. The boy was so busy watching them work that he forgot to watch his back._

"_Hi, Naruto," whispered the newest field medic ANBU with pink hair._

_On instinct the boy turned around with a kunai in hand, ready to strike her down. His heart was beating erratically as she backed away in shock._

_Altogether the commotion in the tree alerted Naruto's target to their position. The end result was Naruto fighting for his life as Sakura attempted to punch the snot out of some poor guy. The mission was completed _weeks_ after the intended time._

Naruto closed his eyes and counted to ten before reopening them. He had bad memories with some of the greener recruits.

"I think you'll like the actual mission though. It's a guard mission, but I'm sure you won't mind. Supposedly there's a man oddly like Orochimaru running rampant over in the west, outside our nations. An old acquaintance of Sarutobi's requested that someone watch over his school while this man is running wild. Apparently only one man can kill him and that man is in the school. Your mission is to keep this kid alive so he can kill someone else and we get paid.

"While on this mission you can do whatever you so desire as long as it doesn't affect Konoha's image. There are several hundred students there to do with as you please so long as none of them die. The other details are in the scroll. Departure is in my office at midnight tonight. Bring only the essentials. These people are suspicious even if they aren't all that bright and carrying to many weapons could ruin the mission."

"So? What's the pay? Why should I take the mission?" asked the man.

Tsunade mentally shook her head. Why did she promote Naruto? Whenever he was going on one of these types of missions he only cared about the pay. "Ten months of S-Rank mission pay on a weekly basis. Your employer was generous," she commented.

The blond man stood still, debating whether or not to go. Finally he sighed, "I'll take your mission. …And the training thing," he finished as he noticed his leader's hopeful look.

The woman leaned back in her chair in relief as she heard the pop that meant Naruto was gone.

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"Wood, surely you, too, felt the rip in the barrier?" whispered a girl with dark blue hair nearly invisible in the darkness.

"…Yes, Sister, it means contact has been made and the demon's power is growing weaker as they try to fix it. The Akatsuki's time to strike is coming closer. Soon, Sister, we shall have our Keys."

"This brings our attention to another matter at hand. The Keys are on the other side of the barrier. The Biju shall have to wait their turns. I have made contact with a holder who is willing to relinquish his grasp on Fire."

"Oh? Who is this man, Sister?"

"His name is…"

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I need a beta. If you are willing to take this job please check one of the other chapters. Thank you. (This note was written on 7-29-06.) Also, please continue to read this story and review. Now you may return to the story in peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucky you, peoples. I'm feeling happy today and I had this chapter written already. Happy birthday to me! Okay, so it's not yet my time, but I did celebrate today. I'm currently enjoying my new manga books. Anyways I felt like updating early.

Disclaimer: I'm not two people at the same time guys! I haven't heard anything about either one of the two selling their works to the other and I'm certainly not Rowling or Kishimoto.

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Naruto arrived in the Hokage's office with one minute to midnight. Tsunade watched as he took a "magical" item from the scroll's case and waited for the last second to tick by. Both took the time to find out what was so great about the tiny piece of dried animal skin that had been crammed against the scroll for so long.

Up in Naruto's head he heard Kyuubi counting down the seconds. Stupid fox. Lately that fur ball had been oddly obsessed about time. Bluntly it was driving Naruto insane.

"_**Three… two… one… they're late**!" _roared the Kyuubi furiously. Of course, Kyuubi hadn't cared to check Naruto's eyesight seeing as how there was no new chakra source. If he had then the 'Greatest of all Demons' would have seen enough flying colors and whirling noises to make some of the most violent carnival rides seem like child's play.

The sight nearly made Naruto retch with his mask still in place. Everyone knew (some from past experiences, with Naruto included) that retching with the mask still _in place _was akin to suicide. The scent was horrible and cleaning it off took longer than getting dried blood out of a white cloak. Not to mention that you had to wait until the mission was over before you could do such a thing.

When his feet reached solid ground as opposed to air the ninja stumbled a small bit before applying chakra to his feet and crouching until his vision cleared.

"I suppose you are the guard_s_ I hired?" asked a man a few feet away from Naruto, emphasizing the plural on guards.

Naruto didn't answer; rather he did a quick chakra wave check of the area before standing. "Are you… Albuz Dumblehdoleh?"

The man looked slightly shocked before chuckling at the man's mispronunciation. "Indeed I am, though you pronounce it as AlbusDumbledore."

Naruto stood suddenly, slightly disappointed that his head only reached the man's nose, and bowed. Even behind the mask, Dumbledore could see the man's eyes swiftly searching the room.

"You shouldn't worry. There are spells here to prevent the eavesdropper." When Dumbledore saw the other questions the man was holding back he answered them without a pause. "I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster – uh, leader – of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I employed the help of ninja to protect a certain boy and a school from a dark wizard. We are at an inn and shall shortly relocate to the school. Semester starts tomorrow. Other than that, would you like a crumpet?"

Naruto accepted all the information except the crumpet. He had been faced with too many times in his life when someone poisoned his food and Naruto survived due to the absorption of a certain demon's power. Besides, what he just said confirmed what Tsunade had told him between the meeting and his arrival here on his mission.

"So when are we going?" asked Naruto, acting strictly as a professional soldier.

"As soon as you answer one of my questions. Why are you wearing that mask?"

"Because it's the best part of the job."

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Naruto and Dumbledore arrived in a forest that reminded the blond shinobi faintly of a seriously toned-down version of the Forest of Death. Though now he thought about it, that forest was only so dangerous because there were so many other people out for your blood and a crazy snake man hanging out at the only time Naruto entered.

After strolling merrily through the woods for a few minutes the shinobi and teacher could clearly see what looked like one of the castles from a fairy tale. The headmaster smiled at the grand sight while the shinobi scowled. There was no way he'd be able to watch every single occupant in that thing! Or at least not without arousing suspicion to the fact that there would be over one thousand clones.

As they approached Naruto could only feel relief that the castle was built on a hill. Tactically speaking it would give them the ability to see the enemies without using precious chakra in the process. Not to mention kunai and shuriken worked better when gravity helped pull the weapons into the enemy skull than if gravity tried to drag the weapon away and out of the enemy. _And_ any local thugs the enemy could hire would tire when trying to climb the hill to the point where they'd be no more than standing targets.

Plus however these village-less shinobi defended themselves would most likely be more effective with a height advantage. As they walked through the gate and into the stone courtyard Naruto quickly took note of all the disadvantages they would be facing by being there. First the gate was wood. One good Katon jutsu and all you'd have left is a pile of smoldering ash. There was some sort of chakra field around the gate but, it wouldn't be strong enough to surviveagainst say, Baa-chan's fist, his and Ero-sennin's Rasengan, Kakashi's chidori or Orochimaru's army of wannabe-shinobi.

Second the courtyard was open to sunlight. As relaxing as that might be, any shinobi worth his salt would be able to easily scale or jump the wall and attack from above. Then there was the unnecessary amount of stone. If this was a school then children would be running around here. If they got scared by an attack from above and tripped over a loose rock they could kill themselves by cracking their heads open effectively failing Naruto's mission.

Fourth there was that hideous fountain with the steel cage. It was the perfect place to take people hostage. With so many breaks in the steel anyone could poke a weapon through and against a hostage's neck. And then the water surrounding the cage like a moat could be used in a Suiton jutsu and effectively pierce all sides of the cage in ice or water without any excess chakra being used to retrieve the water from the air. If Orochimaru was in any way related to this snake-man then he could revive someone like Haku to use the water in the most devastating way possible.

That was, presuming that Orochimaru had managed to survive Ero-sennin's Rasengan while Naruto made quick work of the body. The soul, in a desperate attempt to enter Kabuto, was given to Gaara who had come to see what the commotion was about. Gaara had swiftly changed power over to Shukaku and let the demon feast away at the delicacy.

Overall, not a good defence and Naruto had only just entered the place.

If Naruto's guide had noticed the slight pause the shinobi took to look around he didn't comment. Rather he took the boy up through the winding stone corridors to a stone gargoyle. Naruto could feel the small bits of mutated chakra flowing off the stone somehow connect with the man's pocket.

'_He must've been the one who put the carved rock there,'_ concluded Naruto.

"Hmm… what was the password again? Oh yeah, Cockroach Cluster!" (AN: If anyone could tell me what the real password to the office in book 5 is I'd really appreciate it) proudly declared the headmaster.

Naruto's conclusion appeared true as the stone moved aside to allow the two men passage into a circular room with various little instruments on every surface. The shinobi scowled again when he saw them. Once again, more proof of a poor defence. Even if Baa-chan slept on the important documents at least she didn't keep the room cluttered with uselessly fragile things. Everything she had could be used to take out some type of opponent or another. Except the paperwork. That could be used as a smokescreen before Baa-chan bashed your skull in with her freaky strength.

The old man moved behind a polished wood desk and sat in a way that reminded Naruto of the Old Man Hokage.

"So, will you reveal your face? We are living in dark times and wearing a mask is a sure-fire way to ensure your death." Noticing the man's suspicion again the old wizard smiled. "I have permission written here from your leader," he stated holding out an unrolled scroll with Baa-chan's seal and small chakra infusion.

After scanning the contents of the scroll (written in Japanese with the magical translation squeezed below) Naruto sighed. "Baa-chan, what did you set me up for?" he whispered to the paper.

Slowly he reached up to untie the razor thin chakra string used by most ANBU to hold their mask in place. His gloved fingers had just been placed firmly on the porcelain temples of the Wolfish mask when he felt a wild, uncontrolled, and fairly small chakra source coming. His hand instantly fell from his face as he armed himself in seconds, taking care to hide the arm holding the kunai and showing the unarmed hand.

He had set himself in a shadow so only a portion of the eye showed right when the door slammed open. At the same time a few of the fragile silver things wobbled from the air cut open by the speeding man.

"Albus! Our protective charms showed the arrival of an unknown power enter the area. I checked the scope and can only conclude that that the intruder is _in the building!_" declared a thin and frail looking old woman.

To the woman's obvious surprise Dumbledore started to chuckle. "Minerva, there is no need to be alarmed. I brought the guard I told you I hired today."

The woman was still flustered and spoke up sharply, "But Albus, you said you hired at least four! The charms showed only one."

"Because there is only one. On the way here he assured me that others will arrive at irregular intervals as a way to train themselves in their ways through field missions of various sorts."

"Irregular intervals! How are we supposed to divine friend from foe?"

It was then that Naruto decided to make himself known. "Yes, irregular intervals keep the enemy guessing as to just how many guards you have. As to divining friend from foe… just look for the mask," stated the man coldly, subtly positioning himself so that the faint light from the surrounding torches gave his mask a much more threatening look than justthe blank snarl of a deadwolf.

"Albus, is this your guard? The only guard?" demanded the lady Minerva.

Naruto did not rise in anger, though some minor killing intent did wash off of him.

"I've been assured that this is one of the strongest men that still lives. Just recently I hired this man from a village of young men and women who have emerged from a war victorious three years past. Apparently this man was a hero of the war and led the final assault against their enemy and with the minor assistance in the form of a distraction from his old teacher this man struck down the enemy commander effectively ending the war," pacified Dumbledore hoping to stop another minor war from occurring in his room.

Naruto nearly snorted. Sure, Baa-chan, a Rasengan is a distraction and soul-eating demons are fully tan towel animals.

"If they just emerged from a war wouldn't the strongest of them died trying to defend the weak?" asked Minerva slightly less worried about her fate now, but only slightly.

"Baa-chan wouldn't die to some snake-teme, baka!" declared the ANBU, defending the only few people who had accepted him as family and called him their little brother.

"I'll have you know that my name isn't 'baka.' I apologize for not introducing myself earlier; I am Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts," stated the lady.

The ANBU bowed to the woman in apology. "Gomen, ano sorry, for calling you a baka. I would appreciate it if you _didn't_ insult my family though," stated the ANBU, even though each thought in his head conflicted with his apology.

Dumbledore just raised a silver eyebrow at the spectacle. "I was never aware that you were related to that woman," he stated mildly surprised.

The ANBU just turned to look at him, firmly keeping his mouth shut from accidentally letting slip something he shouldn't.

"So will you show me what lies under the mask now so I may confirm you are not an enemy?" asked Dumbledore smiling lightly and using some type of genjutsu to make his eyes sparkle. _'Or maybe it's another one of those weird things that happens. Like the sunset that appearswhenever Lee and Gai… give each other a man hug…'_ Naruto mentally shuddered from the last time he had to endure it. Just after killing Orochimaru…

"**Earth to kit! You shouldn't fall onto memory lane in the middle of a mission," **shouted Kyuubi accusingly.

'And you shouldn't randomly interrupt me during a mission! I thought we had an agreement,' snapped Naruto.

The two others in the room waited patiently for the man to stop 'thinking.'

"I refuse to show my face to any besides my employer should my employer have the permission from my supirior."

Minerva sighed and silently begged Dumbledore for help in seeing this 'hero's' face

"Would it be okay if Minerva here looked as well so long as she doesn't reveal anything to anyone?"

The ANBU instantly tensed for a split second, as if trying to force down an extremely strong emotion. "I have no proof she will keep her word. Or you will for that matter," stated the ANBU being careful not to show any sadness or betrayalto his employer. Any number of spies could be pretending to be a picture and really be waiting for any sign of weakness.

To his surprise Dumbledore smiled. "Then we shall take a wizard's oath! If either of us breaks our word our life goes with it."

Naruto thought about it for a few moments. "What kind of death do you face? The type where the voice is cut off as you die from asphyxiation? Is it the torturous type where one is seemingly burned from the inside out as a poison of some sort is released into the bloodstream? Is it the type of sharp pain radiating from one point as if you were stabbed? Or is it the type where you don't feel a thing and you drop down dead with the secret revealed?" he asked, feeling Kyuubi rise in excitement at each new way of killing and the mere thought of humans, lining up firing jutsu after jutsu upon his invincible barrier... laughing as line after line of the humans fell... the stench of death ingraining itself into the barren wasteland that was once a forest... Naruto _nearly_ licked his lips.

Minerva flinched every time Naruto mentioned a different type of death so easily. Dumbledore just chuckled again, even if the sparkly-eye genjutsu wasn't working as well this time and he sounded slightly nervous.

"I'm not sure what kind of death the oath breaker suffers from. All I know is that the death is all it takes to stop most wizards and witches from breaking their word."

Naruto scowled again, but let them sign the contract seeing as how they wouldn't let him leave until then even if he could just replicate himself and warp out.These twowere bound to find out and therefore compromise the mission by disrespecting the employer. When they finished signing the oath – Naruto was saddened to see that it wasn't in blood, which was a whole lot harder to duplicate – the dried animal hide disappeared.

"Well, are you going to show us your face?" asked Minerva.

Naruto just reached up and broke the chakra strings. As the white rim and two pointy ears finally pulled away from the forehead both wizards found themselves holding their breath to see his face. The mask was still obstructing everything below his eyes as he looked up at their waiting forms. Naruto just smiled and pulled the rest of the white and red mask away.

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That's all for now, folks. I was saddened at the lack of reviews, but I guess all overused crossovers do that. Next chapter Harry and his gang will come in. And after that I ain't telling! Please review. This was supposed to be the story to be my other stories. So far it's losing pitifully.


	3. Chapter 3

For the concerned, the original characters that I make for this story are all a) evil or b) killed so I doubt that they fall under the name "Mary-Sue." That and I stink at writing romance. I know, I've tried writing a small bit into another story and it wouldn't flow properly from that point on.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am not rich, famous, or have gotten a high school diploma. I am in neither Britain nor Japan so I am not even partially related these two rich people. I am just a person you'd see walking down the street who writes for the enjoyment of others who does not own Harry Potter or Naruto.

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Minerva stared at the _boy's_ face evenly returning her gaze. Why, that boy barely looked old enough to have graduated from school! And here he was claiming he was some great war hero or some other fanciful lie and backing it up with the various ways to die – no doubt divined from reading Muggle fantasy novels! And to paint six little lines on his cheeks to make him look like one his favorite cartoon characters. How sweet.

But the boy didn't stop. He carefully untied the hooded beige cloak that covered his well-toned body. It finally struck the deputy headmistress as odd that someone who claimed to be a hero would dress in such a color as beige. Especially if he was a mercenary. Last time she checked mercenaries preferred darker colors for who-knew-why.

A red flame-like tattoo stood out on his left bicep against the high neck and tight black shirt he wore. Over the shirt were the white armor and various bandages that went along with his line of work. His black pants reached down to the standard ANBU grade sandals. His katana remained forgotten on his back. The long black sleeves were covered in a similar material as the armor, hard but still easy to move in. Though none could see it, hidden beneath the armor were various summoning scrolls and weapons for any occasion. The innocence that typically went along with newly-graduated children seemed to have withdrawn from this boy. The way the long spiky hair was set, the tiredness behind the eyes hidden behind years of keeping a mask on, and the set of the mouth gave away the fact that he had seen and done things no one should have to do.

"Y-you lie about being a war hero," accused Minerva as she stared at the boy's small build.

"Believe what you want. I am what I am," replied Naruto.

Minerva was about to open her mouth when Dumbledore interrupted. "I do believe that we should show our guest to his quarters before having our last meal in relative silence?"

The woman paused and nodded in agreement. Even this liar of a boy deserved to enjoy the last meal before the students arrived.

The two older teachers lead the boy (they still didn't know his name) towards his room, conveniently located in the exact middle of the school's layout and right next to a bunch of secret passages.

The boy – who was once again fully uniformed – jumped at everything magical, supporting Minerva's secret theory that the boy was a squib or similar. Only when he reached a portrait of a sakura tree in spring did the group stop.

The pair explained how to change the password and stated the current one. Naruto climbed into his dormitory that he'd share with his fellows and noticed that there was a carrier pigeon, no doubt Ero-sennin's. The room smelled faintly of some sort of cleaner hinting that this room wasn't used much and was recently cleaned for his arrival.

The two wizards watched as Naruto examined every inch of the room and shook his head at one thing or another. The ANBU would occasionally change something ever so slightly, such as shifting the bookshelf of "ninja" lore slightly to the left. The slight placement confused them, but neither one was willing to admit that the boy they had seen earlier knew what he was doing to the main room.

"We still have a few minutes before dinner. You may do as you please until then," stated Dumbledore as he conjured some more dried animal skin, this one with a map of the building on it. On the edges, where there was some sort of extra room was one of four words. How they found the words Naruto had no clue, but it seemed insignificant. That or that particular person was just crazy. Who'd call a room "Gri-fin-door?" That was hard to pronounce and hard to write.

"Arigato, Dumbledore-san, McGonagall-san."

As they left his room Naruto could swear he heard the lady say that they needed to change his ways of speaking from broken English to full-fledged non-accented English soon or no one would understand him.

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Naruto entered the Great Hall in the shadows of one brooding slimy guy that reminded the ANBU Captain to much of Sasuke with his hair flat and with wrinkles. Not to mention the faint smell of various animal guts.

As the entire teacher population (including the overgrown hag, Trelawney (AN: misspelled and I know it!) sat down for their last meal before getting swamped with brats it became rather obviousto seethe new guard. He was standing against the wall and seemingly watching everything and everyone at the same time.

They all ate their last meal in a tension that accompanied knowing that their peace wouldn't last long once the Weasley twins came. It was at that time that Dumbledore intended on introducing the guard, but when it came time to introduce him the boy was gone. The only sign that he was ever there was the disappearance of some fairly raw meat.

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The next day Naruto spent his time asking Dumbledore for a place to train and training his morning hours away. When the guard reappeared it was nearly evening. Most people wondered if he was hungry and voiced it. Apparently they had never heard of soldier's pills or rations.

The wolf-faced man watched the giant-man hold a piece of raw meat out and a bunch of skeletal horses follow. He considered asking someone about it until he saw the closed expressions on many of their faces. It faintly reminded him of back home with the villagers before the war.

It was dark by the time the skeletal horses returned with several hundred kids. _'Great, here comes the gaki.'_

"**Ever thought about the fact you were like them, no even worse than them?" **asked the Kyuubi.

'_Yes I have baka kitsune. But at least I didn't need a guard.'_

"**Yeah, because you had me."**

Naruto cut the link right there. Talking with that pompous fox never got your anywhere in life except waste precious training time.

When McGonagall appeared again Naruto took it as his cue to watch the brats pour into the hall. He jumped into the rafters to watch as chunk upon chunks of kids ranging from ages 12-17 arrived to judge by their size. Right on the other side of the room arrived a chunk consisting of about six students arrived. The one closest to him was easily recognized as Harry Potter, the one he had to specifically protect. That weak little brat looked, at best, three years younger than him. Why, at his age Naruto was out kicking snake butt!

As the eleven-year-olds entered with a hat Naruto nearly revealed his position and attacked the new chakra source. That thing had more power than most of the kids in the building. If McGonagall-san hadn't explained the hat thing to the new kids (and the guard)the hat would be little more than shredded pieces of string and that chakra core.

He listened faintly as the hat broke into song. A whole bunch of junk on staying united, staying in line, and being wary of old enemies making new friends. That freaky hat was probably referring to him most the time, but Naruto didn't care. Let them talk. It added to his mystique.

The new kids were sorted to one of four houses each based on the hat-that-had-chakra. All the while a new teacher – one who resembled Gamabunta's family in all ways with the exception that Gamabunta looked intelligent – smiled a smile to make even the most stoic of all Academy shinobi-to-be squirm at each of the students.

Once everyone was seated Dumbledore stood up to make a speech. Everyone watched the man with interest as he began to speak.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. We are pleased to introduce to you our new Defense Against the –"

"_Hem, hem,_" interrupted Frog-Face. "If you would please, I'd like to make my own introduction. Though I'd like to thank you for starting," she said with a sickeningly sweet voice. In one not-so-graceful movement she was standing up next to Dumbledore, who decided to sit.

"I am Professor Dolores Umbridge and I'm pleased to call myself your Ministry Approved teacher in the Defenses Against the Dark Arts," she continued to drone on about "having a good year" and "creating a safe environment for everyone to learn in and enjoy." Naruto read it as enjoying their time under some pompous fool who made the _Uchiha_ look humble while sitting around doing nothing. But even if he misread her intentions he'd at least be bored to death, and he had learned patience after sitting still for nearly a week for the perfect opportunity to strike during an assassination mission. No doubt Jiraiya set him up for that so the pervert could go peeping without anyone turning him in.

But still, no amount of money or "good intentions" were worth wasting time he could use to become a better shinobi listen to someone who made the ugliest frog both dead or alive look like a beauty star.

Money… that was another thing that most people misunderstood about him. He didn't want the money for any selfish reason. Few knew that half of his salary "mysteriously disappeared" and reappeared in orphanages or desperate countries if they'd ally with Konoha.

"… I hope we all become great friends!" finished Frog-Face. "Great friends when Kyuubi turns out to be a little angel sent to Earth," muttered Naruto. Inside his belly Kyuubi was laughing hysterically at what Frog-Face was saying. With some luck Naruto would let him loose to "welcome her to his perfect world" after Frog-Face annoys him enough. Oh how that fox desired to have her screaming for her pitiful existence with his claws digging deep into her stomach and ri—

'_Kyuubi, if you keep that up I won't let you even enjoy the feeling when I kill another enemy,'_ warned Naruto. Kyuubi shut up faster than an Akimichi at an all-you-can-eat buffet. He may be a demon lord but even he wouldn't give up the grand chance of feeling what his vessel felt during a kill. Even in the relative silence of his mind Kyuubi still let out a few spastic fits of laughter at whatever evil thoughts he was hiding from his vessel.

When Naruto snapped out of his conversation with Kyuubi just in time to hear the end of the sparse clapping for the new teacher. Once Frog-Face finally sat down Dumbledore stood up again.

"And now I'd like to introduce another member of our staff this year. Professor Grubby-Plank (AN: I think that's the guy's name)is here to teach our Care of Magical Creatures class." Nobody really cared about that. Not very many people cared for that class after Hagrid started teaching it anyways. Regardless there were a few whispers passed around on Hagrid's state.

"And now I'd like to introduce our last new staff memeber." That caught a few students' attention seeing as how there wasn't any new member besides Umbridge and Grubbly-Plankat the table. There was some confused murmuring until one kid from Harry's table shouted, "That's it! Now he's really gone bonkers!"

"No, Mr. Finnegan, (sp?) I have not gone bonkers yet. If I may introduce you to your new school-wide guard." Naruto took that to be his cue yet again. Standing from his crouched position on the rafters above he leaped to the rafter above the staff so his cloaked form was framed by the window's gray light. Several students looked around for their guard, still.

Even if it wasn't storming outside lightning flashed thanks to a clone Naruto had planted while everyone was eating. If he had to do this mission where the oldest group of kids was a year younger than him then he might as well scare them into submission. Several girls screamed at the sheer noise that ninja-lightning created. Several boys stared at the ceiling in fright.

Harry was the one who spotted him. "There!" shouted the black haired boy, pointing at the lone high window in the Hall. Everyone turned to face the crouching masked man, even if all they could see was the bone white mask snarling at them like an angry wolf. Naruto's only other clone released all his chakra to create another lightning bolt. By now even the Headmaster, who was still standing, turned to watch the guard.

Naruto grinned at the attention focused on him. Muhahaha! He was being noticed! Even if it was thanks to one of Kyuubi's ingenious tactics on how to scare people without making some poor bloke embarrass himself before his peers. Pity most of Kyuubi's tactics did that anyways, with or without the killing intent.

Naruto slowly stood, making sure that each of his joints popped dangerously before he sprang off the tiny ledge he had stuck himself to. Every woman and girl screamed as he seemed to fall for an eternity. Naruto curled himself up in a ball and flipped several times through the air before uncurling his body and landing like a cat on the stone floor, feeling the soft thick fabric of his cloak fall around him.

Everyone continued staring at him. Frog-Face's eyes were larger than the platters dinner had been served from. Slowly Naruto stood up, taking great care in having his partially sheathed (it came out _just_ enough to see the blade during the jump) katana catch what light was provided from the candles and turn the blade a bloody red.

"Wolf reporting for duty," stated the man as he bowed to Dumbledore. Harry instantly knew it; this would be an interesting year.

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I know, I probably screwed up somewhere but I'm writing this based on memory of the book. If someone notices a glaring error (like missing a teacher arriving here or Umbridge's new rules there) please tell me and I shall correct it. Other than that, please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Happy birthday to me! That is why you all get a chapter. Ha, don't you wish my birthday was every day of the year? ;P JK...

Disclaimer: It _is _my birthday so you _could_ always give me the rights to Harry Potter or Naruto...

Some people were asking why I gave Naruto the Wolf over the Fox mask. Well, the answer is simple: foxes aren't well-loved in Konoha. Why would Tsunade who thinks of Naruto as a brother or son give the village more reason to hate him? And by giving the Fox to _Naruto,_ who already has fox-like whiskers, some of the more brilliant kids could figure it out. In a way if either of the two Hokage who could give the fox mask to Naruto did so, they'd be breaking the Third's Law in their own little way by giving him more "foxy" appearances. Now, I'm pretty sure that you can't kill the Hokage for that, but it would still counter the entire point of the law in the first place.

Anyways... **Poll time!** I need to know: who wants Sasuke or Orochimaru('s ghost)to make an appearance and/or die (or get eaten!)? Please tell me in a review...

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It had been nearly two whole torturous months with the ministry-approved-nutcase of a teacher and Harry, Ron, and Hermione had felt every second of it crawl by. Everything was normal with the glaring exception to their toad of a teacher and the enigma that was Wolf.

Harry had been walking to the Great Hall for his evening meal from a particularly strenuous double Divination lesson when he literally ran into Wolf. The man, barely taller than Harry was, didn't budge an inch from where he was originally standing. Harry, on the other hand, stumbled back as if he had just hit a thick stone wall.

"Ow… that hurt," Harry mumbled, holding his head.

Wolf didn't even turn to face the boy. "For someone who is supposed to save us you sure don't seem very promising. I might as well kick the dust now and not have to worry about the Dark Lord later," stated Wolf in a rather dry tone of voice that hinted he was attempting a joke without ruining his mysterious figure.

Harry, who was having a horrible day thanks to Umbridge, rose at the implied insult. "What do _you_ know about saving people from death?" shouted the enraged boy. The Boy-who-Lived instantly grew to regret his question.

Wolf turned around fully to face the boy, letting his shadow-cast blue eyes flash indigo for a second. "I know all about saving people. That's what I do for a living. As it is, I'm saving countless people's lives because you're living. I could always leave without a trace," stated the man as his feet began to disappear.

"Wait!" shouted Harry in a vain attempt to stop the man. Before the rest of his rebuttal could surface Wolf had disappeared completely from view. Harry did what anyone would do in his situation. He cursed and stormed the halls to dinner.

Other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione, classes pretended not to notice if he stepped in on the lessons. The students and teachers pretended to not notice when some more advanced magic managed to screw up around him if the spell's range was within his aura of hidden might. Only one person openly noticed the man.

That person was Frog-Face herself. Whenever he entered (on the first day under the belief that someone was being attacked thank to the sounds of someone throwing stuff) the hag would run around like a headless chicken until she found her notes. Every night, however, the notes disappeared without a trace. Every time she seemed more pleased.

Naruto paid her no mind. She would barely stand up against the Ino-Shika-Cho team with Shikamaru half-asleep and Chouji having a feast of potato chips. What really interested him was that no green ANBU had shown up yet. He had expected one to have appeared sometime last month, but none came. He hadn't heard a word from Konoha since he had left either. No word on his pay, the remaining pockets of Sound ninja, or how Baa-chan was doing.

It was taking everything he had not to show signs of worry.

What if the village was attacked by the Akatsuki and they weren't capable of calling him back for fear of unleashing the Kyuubi again? What if that Uchiha traitor had returned and murdered everyone he held dear to get him back for killing Orochimaru? What if someone inside the school itself was breaking his communication with his home?

Naruto's pupils changed to slits and his aura grew in sheer size. Something just wasn't right about the entire thing.

Sure, the shinobi had dutifully watched as Harry flew around on a spindly broom emitting chakra, but that really wasn't very interesting after a while. Then the shinobi watched his charge face detention – some sort of western punishment system that involved cutting your hand open – while a clone watched the tryouts. Overall nothing spectacular or out-of-place appeared on the grounds.

He never saw a navy haired girl watching from inside a cloud. Shivering from the wind the girl muttered to herself. "Dang it, now I remember why I hate joining the water in clouds. Never again am I doing this."

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October 31 hurtled faster than Naruto could ever remember one coming before. This was the date when the green ANBU he had received a month prior would return to Konoha with Naruto's mission report. There was still no sign of the missing ANBU. Kyuubi was going hysterical at the thought of how much time was being wasted by fighting someone else's war. Naruto couldn't help but agree with the fox… just for this once though.

Naruto had watched with interest as the giant-man had dragged in several large orange things from the garden outside with the help of a few clones. (He later learned that they were called "pumped-Kin" to be turned into a "Jack-of-a-Lantern." Why one would turn a prepared or strong thing named Kin into a Jack of all trades would be understandable, but why a lantern? Surely there were stronger styles of fighting than with a lantern here. Then again these were weird people with their flimsy rods.)

After an afternoon spent trying to train against several clones the young Captain took up his position in the shadows of the hall. The students entered in what began as a trickle and ended with the equivalent of a tsunami as they all rushed to their seats to start the feast. As soon as the students all sat several clones began their patrol for any sign of the missing ANBU.

They had reached the main course when Naruto felt the first of many clones to get attacked. Instantly suspicious, the second wave of clones prepared to guard the courtyard. Naruto himself approached his employer for the first time in nearly his entire stay here. Leaning over Dumbledore's shoulder the young man began to whisper to the older man.

"Dumbledore-san, this isn't right. It isn't a monster. The nukenin has entered the courtyard," warned Naruto. Dumbledore had no clue as to what a nukenin was, but he could tell it was bad. "More news: a small attack force of black cloaked men has entered the courtyard and is trying to enter the main gate."

At this Dumbledore's eyes grew wide. Leaning over to Minerva on his side the two began whispering ferociously. Umbridge smiled her ugly smile and asked if she was supposed to know anything important. Naruto was the first to react to the approach of his clone's chakra. They were no doubt trying to regroup with the fourth wave created and hold the intruders off. 'The sounds of battle can only be faintly heard through the thick door, that's good,' Naruto noted as he appeared near the door.

The students nearest him were suddenly frightened. He scarcely showed off except for on his first day here. The older students were always talking about bad stuff happening on Halloween.

The sounds of various suits of armor getting blasted to bits and the occasional clone's screams made it over the noise of half the hall and echoed through the scared students.

"We're going to die!" screamed one girl as she hugged her best friend.

"They're bloody right," agreed Ron through the room.

"And this room's going to become bloody if this keeps up!" exclaimed Ginny.

Oddly enough Fred and George didn't say anything at all. They didn't try to sell anyone anything or even make some comment about it to anyone. No one paid them much mind seeing as how they had just heard someone scream in pain.

Naruto stood ready, bracing himself for when the clones would be pushed back into the room. From the sounds of the battle there was scarcely a few minutes left before the doors would be burst open.

"Dumbledore! Evacuate both the students and staff that can't fight. Any who can are to remain and fortify what defenses I create!" shouted Naruto. Amazingly every teacher, including Umbridge, complied. The scared students were led deeper into the castle by their Heads of Houses and Perfects as they ran from the feast.

Malfoy and his gang were one of the last to leave the room, which was to be expected by their sauntering walk of self-assuredness that they wouldn't die. Malfoy had just mounted the steps when the door was impaled by several icy spikes. Screaming in fear, the blond ran from the ice that shouldn't have been there and right past Harry and his friends who were hiding behind a large pillar.

Naruto instantly dispelled every clone he had and swallowed a soldier pill. Even if he had a large amount of chakra, the large amount of clone regeneration could take a lot out of you.

Several Death Eaters stumbled against the door and fell inside the Hall. The teachers could only watch in morbid fascination as their guard darted forward and stabbed each of them. They died before they could even feel the cold of the floor.

"Now really, Naruto-kun was that necessary?" taunted an oddly dressed girl from atop a large wave of water like Gaara did with his sand. Some of that water had obviously come from the fountain seeing as how some of the water was murky and had leaves strewn about here and there. The girl had navy hair cut at the shoulder and a black ANBU-style shirt with the kanji for water sewn into the right side. Halfway down the shirt started a navy dress-like battle attire, similar to the type Sakura wore as a gennin. (AN: Think of the jinchuuriki from manga chapter 313.) A high slit that started on either side at the hip showed khaki shorts rolled up to hide various ninja tools.

The girl had no eyes though. She appeared like the Hyuuga with a glaring difference. Where they had a silvery iris, she had a pale blue broken shape that resembled an iris. No doubt this was what allowed her to see, but it was still disturbing to note that she had no pupil.

Even with all these little identifying marks her face showed up no where in Naruto's memory banks.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but why are you here? We have no reason to be in this pathetic excuse for a world. They are weak and domesticated and I know a way to bring you back to Konoha. I know how you've been wondering about the lack of contact," she taunted. Naruto's eyes flashed violet as Kyuubi prepared to enjoy Naruto's killing spree.

"What do you know?" demanded Naruto.

To everyone's surprise the girl began to laugh. She laughed so hard she nearly fell off her wave. At that sight even the Death Eaters froze.

Naruto would've killed her right there and then if it wasn't for the fact that there was a barrier of thin waterrising to protecther. That water was cold enough to freeze in a second and effectively stop his attack. 'Dang, I should've killed her when I had the chance,'thought Naruto with a grimace.

"What do I know? I believe you were looking forward to some word from your dear'Baa-chan' correct? Well, here's your messenger!" shouted the girl. From somewhere behind the doors a small wave of water splashed the bloody body of a near-dead Konoha ANBU. Minerva (amongst many other witches and a few wizards)screamed at the sight.

There was a girl with brown eyes that showed nearly no life. Blood poured freely from the open wounds that decorated her body. The remains of her cat mask were in shards around her face and neck. Naruto didn't directly know her outside of the fact that she had been a promising kunoichi. Soshi Yuriko, only person capable of fighting from her clan in nearly five generations, lay dieing at her captain's feet, a weak smile on her face.

"Cap…tain, she is… water… Tsu…ade says… hi…" whispered the girl. "Arigato, Yuriko-san," whispered Naruto back, wondering _why _in all the underworld she was wasting her breath on a final message like that.

"Aw, now isn't this touching? The Captain has to watch his subordinate and employer get killed," taunted the other girl. Only then did Naruto notice it and he cursed himself for it in rapid Japanese. The Death Eaters were fighting with his employer and his employer's employees. Water was forming a puddle around Naruto's feet. This time the boy cursed in a long string of English. Who knew what that life-dependant liquid would do to him? There could be any number of poisons in that innocently clear water.

A beam of green light singed the edge of his beige Captain's cloak, burning the edges. The Captain grabbed a kunai and quickly slashed the fabric away while the girl screamed at the man who had attacked.

"You could have killed him!" she screeched. "That was never a part of the job, baka!" Everyone ignored the fact that the point of the killing curse was to kill. "The guard is mine!" she continued, sending several icicles plummeting right through the man's chest, leaving him to die where he stood in total and utter shock.

'Since when did commanders kill their own men?' he thought as darkness invaded his sight and his mind.

"Listen, Naruto-kun. We have no reason to be here. They are fighting a war here. A 'war' against 'evil' as they say. Kind of interesting, isn't it?" asked the girl as she continued to send her water after the ANBU.

By now Naruto had found her strategy. Talk to him and make him stand still so she could kill him. Why she didn't just flood the whole place was beyond him though.

A red beam of light went whizzing by the back of his head, singing several blond hairs and bouncing off a few stone walls before crashing into the Hogwarts Crest. Naruto frowned and began to attack a few Death Eaters while he tried to find a safe way to kill his enemy without leaving his forte, close to mid-range fighting.

The girl idly watched the red, white, and green attacks bounce off walls and crash in the air while directing her water to take care of a few less-observant wizards. That was when something caught her eye. A small blue gem that caught the flash of a silver spell. Her eyes widened when the light burned an image of the water kanji into her cursed mind.

"Mizu's Tear…" she whispered. Oh how badly she needed that stone! Reaching out she could only watch helplessly as the water slowly detached itself from the willowy lady's dress to try and grab the girl's gem.

"NO!" she screamed when she noticed the old man grab it and safely send it somewhere else. Her forehead began to pulse as more than a few veins appeared on her normally paper white skin. Her "irises" detracted until they were no more than mere pin pricks. "I MUST HAVE… THE KEY!" she screamed. "I MUST UNLOCK THE CURSE!" she continued. She was screaming in pure agony that the opportunity to remove her curse had slipped through her fingers. The call of the Key was so strong... She just stared blankly at the wall as her body toppled off the wave...

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Please give me a birthday present and review! (Even if you read this after the original posting date thing.) If you're good, I might give you more early updates! Oh yeah, and if you've forgotten about the voting thing already, scroll to the top of your screen and re-read the notes up there. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

I'm so sorry! I meant to update on Friday, but I totally forgot! Anyways, this is chapter 5 with my deepest appologies.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

For the sake of my clarity: Naruto is without the mask. Wolf is with the mask.

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The entire hall froze as she fell and unleashed attack after attack on various pieces of furniture, but never managing to hit a human in her blind rage. Ice began to form in so many places that it looked as if Christmas had come two months early and everyone was decorating for it. Harry and his friends huddled up close as an eight foot tall ice spike appeared where Hermione's foot had been minutes earlier.

Hagrid discreetly knocked out two Death Eaters who were trying to sneak up on him while their commander fell the full twenty feet. Naruto knocked out another one who was aiming his wand at the back of his head.

"YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS, MORTALS! YOU SHALL FEEL THE CURSE!" screamed the girl as her wave of water surrounded her and she teleported out, ninja-style.

'_I really have to fix those anti-Apparating spells soon,'_ thought Dumbledore as the remaining Death Eaters grew frightened. Their commander had been the one that Voldemort would attack if the mission failed. Now they were in enemy hands with a man who seemed to be _stronger_ than their commander.

Those who weren't dead or unconscious gave up rather quickly.

Dumbledore and Minerva quickly took their prisoners away with the Snake-man and this "Naruto" following. As soon as Wolf entered the dungeons all three teachers turned to face him. Snake-man had a sneer to give Sasuke a run for his money plastered on his greasy, snaky, face. The other two were much more closed about their expressions.

Wolf just returned their gazes, letting his eyes flash violet behind his mask for a few seconds. It would do some good to scare them back into not bothering him.

"Well? Is what that girl said true?" demanded Minerva, cold fury worming its way into her voice.

"About what?" asked Wolf, playing the idiot even if he knew they were talking about his name.

"About your name, boy!" Minerva said, fatigue nearly making her lose control over her emotions.

Snake-man was glaring at him. Naruto could feel some dark chakra coming off of this man. Even if Dumbledore was his employer, there was a point where Wolf did not have to reveal anything.

"You mean Naruto? That is just the name of my rank within my home," answered Naruto smirking behind his mask. The dark chakra was beginning to worm even deeper around the Snake-man's arm.

"So you knew that girl?" asked Dumbledore.

"I only knew one girl. That one girl is now dead in your Hall," replied Wolf as he turned to leave. The three were falling right into the trap of being dumbfounded on how easily he spoke of his comrade's death. After all, killing one's enemies was one thing, but watching the death of a comrade was worse. As Wolf easily walked through the wood door, Snake-man pursued him.

"I would have thought that one such as you would want to remain behind for the interrogation," sneered Snake-man.

Wolf just turned and followed Snape back into the room.

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The real Wolf, on the other hand, entered the Great Hall again. He quickly gathered all the dead enemies into one corner of the hall, not caring that blood from the weapons he had thrown were leaving long red smears over the halls.

The few wizards and witches that were still around turned pale and slightly green at all the red that covered the stones. After he finished dragging all the dead wizards and witches to one corner near all the different colored hourglasses Wolf turned back to the hall.

Several witches fainted at the sight of the regularly perfect beige cloak being covered in red juices. The white mask being stained with the life of the enemy. The few weapons he still held releasing the steady sound of a heavy liquid falling off the sharp edges.

Harry and Ron worked furiously to keep Hermione's and their own screams down.

The three watched as the man cut open his thumb and move his hands so fast it looked as if he was having a spasm.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," whispered Wolf. A small frog appeared in a plume of smoke from under his palm. The man crouched over and began to speak furiously with the frog in a foreign language. Within seconds the frog disappeared again, but not before looking directly at the Golden Trio.

"You can quit hiding now," spoke Wolf. The three friends obediently stepped out from behind the pillar. "You are lucky that you didn't try to enter the fray. If you had I would've turned you over to McGonagall-san's attention."

The Trio just watched as the man turned towards the oddly dressed girl he had been leaning over during the battle.

"H-he claims t-to have finished a w-w-w-war at my age," whispered Harry. "Now I can see how he'd do it. I-if he could k-kill those p-people."

The other two turned understandingly to their shocked friend. Harry Potter, the only one who could supposedly finish the war, would have to kill like their guard did.

"Blimey, mates. What if—"

"Ron!" scolded Hermione. "Don't say such things!"

But Harry understood it. The pained expression on Ron's face spoke for him. _"What if we turn up to be like that girl? Tortured, nearly killed, and then shown to Harry like that?"_

Naruto, however, grabbed his comrade's body like he would a bride. He carried her body over near the body stack before casting a genjutsu over the corner. Most people were grateful for when he reappeared; the bodies had been cremated with the exception of the girl.

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The next day word of the "massacre" had spread over the school. The students kept a wide berth from their guard. Naruto didn't mind, so long as the kids were scared of him no one would bother him about his age or height.

Naruto's second green ANBU came along that day as well. Hyuuga Hanabi, the favorite for leadership of the Hyuuga clan. She had taken Yuriko's body back to Konoha where her name was added to the memorial stone and her body was given to her family. A great many students had given her pitiful looks at the way her blank eyes showed through the slits in her mask until one seventh year was sent to the hospital with no ability to use his arms or legs.

Then Hogwarts' second visitor came. Cornelius Fudge came to interrogate the captured Death Eaters and view the school. By the end of the day the guard was called a danger to himself and those around him. A few minutes after the declaration there was a rule forbidding any association with the "murderers." The two ANBU were nearly sent back to Konoha.

Overall things were settling down again after the appearance of Fudge and "the blind girl."

Both ANBU didn't mind the new rule. Rather they seemed to revel in its power. No more could anyone bug them! No stupid fans running after either one for fear of punishment. Just simple cold efficiency fit for an ANBU remained.

Well, efficiency and a certain love to bug Dumbridge.

On the first day Umbridge had declared herself the Hogwarts High Inquisitor Naruto had taken a certain enjoyment in crossing the name out and writing her new nickname down instead. Professor Dumbridge had fumed for weeks in a desperate attempt to find the prankster, but when none appeared she was left with giving detentions to anyone who used that name.

Naturally the Weasley twins took advantage of the nickname. They received a record breaking sixty-four detentions in one month for creating bombs that screamed the nickname, wrote the nickname in smoke, or would create graffiti of the name outside her room. Harry – among others – could only wonder how the twins managed to keep their hands on their wrists from those long hours of writing lines.

And then this new rule came. Not even Dumbridge wanted to break it seeing as how the Minister "forgot" to make an exception for her. His temporary memory lapse courtesy of a _very _angry Hanabi and a few closed tenketsu (sp?).

Dumbridge had tried to overrule the old rule, but the Minister had once again made a stupid move and forbid _anyone_ from changing it regardless of what he meant. Now all she could do was watch helplessly as the two ANBU ran amuck scaring the wits out of her and anything else that moved and got on their nerves. Overall life couldn't have gotten better for them if Ero-sennin had shown up and told Naruto that he was now Hokage by Tsunade's order.

On numerous occasions a male toad would show up with a card on it commenting about how they looked so alike and could have so many mini-toads running around. Other cards inquired if Dumbridge was half-toad by blood. The worst prank played on her was meticulously set up by Naruto to show Hanabi how ANBU did some _real _trap setting.

It involved Hanabi watching in awe as Naruto set up traps that only a master of traps or prankster could create. When Professor Dumbridge set her toady little hind in that hall all heck broke loose. The result – which took nearly fifteen minutes of traps, counter-traps, secondary-traps and secret triggers to reach – was Frog-face jumping up and down scratching herself like, well someone who had itching powder tossed all over them, which was exactly what happened. Her once "perfect" skin was completely drenched with milk, honey, wet corn starch, and sugar that had been left to soak for days. Oh yeah, not to mention that half the suits of armor in the school were "attacking her" thanks to Naruto's small genjutsu skills and the entire school officially learned of her new nickname.

Every fifth-year student and higher reached a unanimous decision on that day after getting scared away by the furious (and embarrassed) DADA teacher. The Defense Against the Dark Arts was officially a cursed subject when it came to the teachers' luck.

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"THE CURSE… MUST BE RELEASED…" muttered a crazed navy haired girl as a concerned looking man in an Akatsuki cloak leaned over her.

"Hey, sis, settle down. The curse will be released and those touched by its power shall be freed again," whispered the man in the cloak.

"Come on, Wood. You know it as well as I do that she won't return to normal for a while. She's seen her element. She's seen Mizu's Tear and until she wraps her fingers around that stone she'll remain in her crazed state," stated another man, this one with red hair that had been recently messed up.

"THE CURSE… THE SCHOOL… THE TEAR…" continued the girl. The other four occupants of the room turned to stare pitifully at the girl.

"Shut up, you're just saying that because you got that Sol's Rock from the snake-man!" accused the cloaked man.

"Yeah! You're saying that because you've been freed from the curse!" shouted a brown haired man.

"No I am not! I may not bear the curse, but I am still a Cursed Child!" snapped the red haired man.

"Wood, Fire, Earth settle down!" shouted the normally silent and calculating silver haired man. "We need that Tear and there is no way for us to steal it. That barmy old fool may be getting old, but he's not dumb. He'll know how to stop us and Kyuubi has more than likely contacted his village for support. If we plan on freeing ourselves we'll need to do something drastic and un-shinobi."

"Uh… Sorry Metal, but we're not exactly shinobi," commented Fire before Wood – who was closest – smacked him on the head.

"Please continue," stated Wood.

"We'll have to join them

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There, once again, I'm sorry for the late update. Now, the girls that appeared are both original characters and only the insane one is going to play a fairly large role in the story. The dead ANBU is dead and therefore is useless to the continuation of this story's plot, but the insane blue haired girl will be necessary for the plot. She, as well as those who appeared at the end of this chapter, are neither good nor evil and fight purely for their own purposes. If that is the definition of a Mary-Sue please let me know so that I may warn those who read the first chapter. Other than that, thank you for reading and PLEASE review.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello all! Nothing to say besides the disclaimer now though...

Disclaimer: Me no own. There, happy?

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"Wolf! Eagle!" shouted Professor McGonagall through the crowded halls. The students instantly shuffled to the sides when they saw the two guards appear from a hidden passage. The two walked at a menacingly slow pace since they couldn't feel any type of danger.

"May we help you, McGonagall-san?" asked Eagle.

"We just received something that might interest you two; a letter from a certain group of people. …They mentioned a certain "Naruto" in the contents written in your language," stated the flustered teacher pinning Wolf with a stare.

Behind the mask, Naruto's pupils changed to slits before returning to the normal human form of a circle.

"Why weren't we informed upon the arrival of this letter?" demanded Wolf as he moved swiftly through the halls. Eagle was forced to jog to keep up while poor Professor McGonagall had to break into a dead run.

"It… huff wasn't addressed huff, huff to you… huff." replied the professor.

Both ninja pierced her with a glare. "Then why was Wolf's 'title' mentioned?" demanded Hanabi.

McGonagall didn't answer. She was to busy trying not to fall back to catch her breath.

The two didn't bother to state the password into the headmaster's office. Naruto just sent one chakra reinforced punch at the stonework and watched the entire wall collapse in a shower of rocks and dust. They both knew that the wizards would fix the wall by the time the meeting was over. The two jumped up to the office's level in one bound.

"Why didn't you tell us, old man?" hissed Naruto in such a way it almost made Dumbledore think of a particular snake. As their employer regained his senses at seeing the two shinobi create a new entrance Naruto was mentally kicking himself. The horror! He had used Old Man Hokage's title on this old geezer! Not to mention that he was losing the iron grip on his emotions like Ero-sennin and the ANBU instructors had taught him to.

"This entire school is under our guard, if you opened a foreign letter from an unknown source and it was a trap then countless people could have died!" continued Wolf. Eagle was just shaking her head at her Captain. Every ANBU knew better than to snap at their employers!

"Well, we aren't dead and this "foreign source" didn't send us a trap," stated the headmaster, for once feeling very dumb. What in all that is good's name possessed him to open that scroll? Especially one that was addressed to him rather than to Wolf like the ones from his home was.

"Just give us this letter," stated Eagle before her Captain could burst out again. Something must be going wrong. Normally her captain was colder than the ice in Ice Country on a mission! Their employer passed the unrolled scroll across the desk for the two ANBU to read.

To everyone's relief Wolf calmed down as soon as he read the first line. In fact, he was so calm it felt almost as if the room had dropped a few degrees. Eagle activated her Byakungan and read over her Captain's shoulder knowing that he wouldn't mind.

'_To the Headmaster of Hogwarts School._

'_We send word of peace and no ill-intent. You have something that our sister needs for the sake of her life. We are willing to trade for this priceless cure in any way you deem necessary be that in arms, information, or money. In short we need Mizu's Tear._

'_We presume that you saw the way our good sister reacted to the stone's appearance. She shall remain in this state until we have the Tear and remove her from this curse. A curse which we all bear can be healed with your help._

'_Upon birth we were cursed to live in a way that no one else is. We live only slightly better than the Jinchuuriki normally do._ (Naruto let out a slight snort at that, much to everyone's confusion.) _We are cursed into working with only a certain element and none else or die in the attempts to use that power. There is only one cure, certain items such as the Tear can remove the curse of that certain element. Until we have that stone our beloved sister remains in the advanced curse of one whose mind was shattered by their own element._

'_We would like you to know that we attacked you in hopes of curing our brother. He is healed now, at the cost of several injuries on both sides. For our attack we are all honestly repentant._

'_A total of four representatives shall come in one week. Should you accept our offer we request that you meet us at the gate. If you do not accept our offer we shall appear at the gate regardless until midnight. Enjoy your week._

_With highest regards,_

_Fire, Wood, Metal, Earth, give me the TEAR! (Water)_ Naruto just blinked at the English contents and raised an eyebrow at the person they referred to as Water's rather untidy 'signature'.

"Wolf?" asked Eagle, not even turning to look at the boy. She didn't need to. They both knew the question. Who would sign as the five elements? It would be understandable if you signed as one of the jutsu elements since that would hint towards near-mastery of that one element. But no one _used_ the ancient elements anymore! The only use they held were for was speaking into the Demon Realm or highly advanced sealing techniques involving powerful spirits.

"I don't understand it either, Eagle."

"What is there to not understand?" asked Minerva, obviously missing the odd names.

"Nothing that should worry you… too much," replied Wolf as he whispered the last few words. If this group were really all that great with the ancient elemental speaking techniques then… they could've landed in deeper trouble than some wuss who was afraid of death could ever do.

Inside Wolf's seal, however, Kyuubi was growing restless, releasing random spurts of demonic chakra into its tenant's chakra system.

Both ANBU instantly could feel the change in the Captain's power. Behind the mask Naruto kept growing fangs before they'd shrink again and his eyes were constantly changing into slits on and off for long periods of time.

'_Dang it, fox! Quit your meddling now!' _demanded the young Jinchuuriki.

Kyuubi just chuckled before retracting its chakra from Wolf's system. All at once the changes stopped and returned to normal before either wizard could feel too many changes though Dumbledore was giving Wolf an odd look.

"Did you read the rest?" asked Dumbledore, all the while giving Wolf an odd look. _'He must be trying to figure out why I suddenly froze up like that…' _reasoned Wolf.

The Captain wordlessly opened the rest of the scroll and began to read, finding that the text was in Japanese with the small English translation below.

'_To a particular Konoha ANBU._

'_Do not attack our messengers. They are not going to appear in hopes of starting an attack or taking you with them. If you leave them be, they shall not harm you. If they fail in not starting the conflict they shall be dealt with in the interests of our sister.'_

Wolf and Eagle just raised an eyebrow each. Who would these people send to have Wolf attack?

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Their answer came soon enough. As unfortunate as it was, Dumbridge had to be informed of the visitors that would be coming in hopes of attaining the Tear. Wolf had sent word to Konoha of the odd group and their only reply was in the form of a frog. That one frog said that if Wolf summoned him on the designated date Jiraiya would come.

And so, one wizard and two witches were standing on the marble steps to Hogwarts. The two guards had taken up surveillance areas and were watching from positions they refused to reveal. It was a wise decision simply because the two witches would've screamed and had a cow (or a frog in Dumbridge's case) if they saw where their guards were.

As soon as the three representatives took their positions three shinobi appeared from the forest. Wolf instantly stiffened when he saw them.

One had silver hair in a style that reminded him of Kakashi-sensei, just slightly tamer and less of it. This one wore an outfit similar to the insane water-girl Wolf had fought earlier, but without the skirt-like properties, with gloves that looked as if he'd taken them right from an ANBU, and the kanji for metal rather than water. The other two were what concerned him though.

Both were dressed in a black cloak that reached their shins with little red clouds drawn in swirls over it. Neither one wore the wide brimmed hat that went along with the cloak. The one on the left had long black hair that was held in a ponytail at the base of his neck. The other one had blue skin and darker blue hair that was stuck in vertical spikes.

Dumbridge fidgeted at the sight of the blue man's gills. _'I wish I had brought my clipboard. The Ministry would be able to pin Dumbledore for associating with monsters if I did!' _she thought frightened. This was even worse than the itchy white powder that had been all over her bed two weeks ago!

McGonagall blanched at the sight of the silver haired man's eyes. It was a metallic gray that gave you the faraway-in-no-man's-land feel. But that wasn't the scariest part. He had the broken irises like that girl from before. All three wizards unconsciously slipped their hands closer to their wands.

"You know, Naruto-kun, Hanabi-kun, that it isn't polite to spy on a diplomatic mission," called the silver haired man. Both ANBU revealed their locations at once, appearing near the three wizards soundlessly. Neither had expected to stay hidden from this particular group. Wolf watched as Eagle slipped slightly ahead of him.

'_So this girl knows of their recent obsessive attempts to capture me?' _thought Wolf with a slight smirk.

The fish-man tightened his grip on the wrapped sword while the not-so-fish-looking-man-that-still-looked-slightly-like-a-crossdresser's eyes just turned red.

"Peace. We are not here for a fight," stated the silver haired man. Neither one of the two Akatsuki members changed their positions.

"I am Metal and we here _only_ for Mizu's Tear," stated the silver haired man though Wolf didn't move from nearly biting his finger. "As we have stated earlier, we are willing to trade for certain services. We are willing to deal in assassination, information, guarding, thievery, death, and just about any other job most shinobi will take."

Dumbledore heard all of this and noticed all the shinobi's poses. The only one that looked partially at ease was Metal.

"Your, sister, was dealing with Voldemort correct?" asked Dumbledore ignoring the two witches flinching.

"We refuse to reveal the identity of past clients," stated Metal. Dumbledore just smiled, letting the twinkle find its way back into his eyes.

"Then I request that you weaken Voldemort's inner circle of wizards. If you successfully take out this group within a week I shall give you the Tear," stated Dumbledore firmly. Beside him Minerva gasped.

"But Albus! That stone is crucial to some of our wards!"

Dumbledore just smiled back. "We'll find a new source. This is an opportunity to strike our enemy without showing that it was us who did it."

"Do you know who this inner circle includes?" asked the black haired guy (AN: remember, the wizards don't know the Akatsuki!)

"We have pictures," stated Dumbledore as he conjured the images of the bigger enemies. (AN: I don't know all of them and I don't feel like going through all the books to find out.)

The two Akatsuki members and Metal all committed the faces to memory. They were about to teleport away when Itachi spoke.

"Do you want evidence of their defeat?" Despite how dumb that question appeared to the two ANBU it was necessary when dealing with these 'wizard' folk. Apparently a great many of them would get frightened when they saw a bag full of the heads of their enemies. Wimps.

Dumbledore hesitated so Wolf answered for him. "Naturally." The two glared for a moment before the Akatsuki members and Metal disappeared.

"Why do you want their heads?" screeched Umbridge. To her annoyance Eagle answered rather than Wolf.

"You want their heads so that you can confirm your enemy's demise. It wouldn't be proper to pay someone the price of an assassination if they just took a rock and made you think it was your enemy's head," replied Eagle as if she was talking to some little child.

Umbridge was about to retort when the flash of a summoning appeared. Under Wolf's palm was a violently orange frog. The two were in deep conversation before the orange thing disappeared in smoke. The three wizards were blinking in confusion at the frog, or rather where the frog had been.

A few minutes later the frog reappeared in a plume of smoke. Wolf just glanced at the orange thing again.

"Wolf, Jiraiya-sama said that he'll be arriving in a few days with reinforcements. You are not to do anything except continue the mission until further notice," stated the frog. Then the thing sighed. "You know that Gamabunta-sama will hear of this, right?" Wolf nodded totally unconcerned. The frog sighed again in disappeared in smoke once more.

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Up above them a bunch of Gryffindor students were watching what had happened from their tower. It was somewhat disappointing that they couldn't risk any eavesdropping spells, but the sight was good enough. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were backing away to the fire once the three other guys disappeared.

"Hey, guys, you do realize what Dumbledore showed them right?" asked Harry excitedly. His two friends looked confusedly at him.

"He was showing them the pictures of Voldemort's _inner circle of Death Eaters,_" he whispered quickly.

His two friends exchanged glances and leaned in, dreading what was going to happen. Whenever Harry got this excited when something strange was going on it normally didn't bode well for them. And to quote one famous Muggle movie (AN: Which I don't own) "I have a _bad_ feeling about this."

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In Konoha a certain white haired (and perverted) Sannin paced around the Hokage's office completely ignoring what Tsunade was saying. He, Kakashi, Shizune, Neji, Shikamaru, and Lee were all going to chase this Akatsuki sighting. Tsunade herself would've joined if her duties as Hokage and the best medic nin in the world didn't stop her. So she was left with the next best thing: bug those who were going to be safe and take care of Naruto until they were all ready to kill her. Pity no one was all that willing to try and attack Tsunade with her legendary inhuman strength.

"Now you be extra sure that _all_ of you come back alive, you hear?" demanded their Hokage.

"Yeah, yeah, troublesome woman," muttered Shikamaru. Everyone in the room flinched.

"What did you just say?" she screamed at the lazy strategist ANBU, preparing to strike him through the wall like she did to Jiraiya countless times.

"N-n-n-nothing, Hokage-sama!" assured the lazy Nara hoping that he wouldn't scream from fright. Dang that lady knew how to be scary!

"Good. I do hope that you weren't going lazy right before a mission," Tsunade said smiling partially evilly.

"Now—"

"Hokage-sama!" shouted a chuunin outside, entering the room in a huff. "We found a Sound spy!"

Everyone turned to the one chuunin. Tsunade actually froze mid-step.

"Where is he?"

"With Ibiki-san, Hokage-sama!" answered the chuunin before getting bowled over by his Hokage. Jiraiya's team of ANBU quickly gave chase.

When they all arrived in the interrogation room they could easily see the Sound jounin strapped tightly to his chair. Guards were all around the captured spy. Ibiki himself was preparing to interrogate the enemy when the Hokage's group arrived.

"Ah, Hokage-sama! Are you here to hear this man's tale personally?" asked Ibiki, smiling slightly sadistically. A great number of guards flinched. When Ibiki got _that_ look in his eyes nothing went well for the poor guy.

"Almost. You!" she shouted, bashing the poor Sound guy's head. "What did you find out and who did you tell?"

The poor Sound ninja saw stars for several minutes before his vision refocused with a killer headache to boot. "I didn't find out anything," stated the man. Tsunade wasn't convinced and stated so.

One hour of torture later they all found some rather interesting news. He had heard the Hokage speaking with her ANBU and the news was spreading fast through Otogakure. (AN: That _is_ the name for the Hidden Sound, right?)

Tsunade did something no one thought they'd see happen. She swore quite colorfully.

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I was bored so you get a random viewing of a random thought of the possible future for this story! WARNING: **Possible spoilers!**

_Both sides froze in horror as Wolf finished his hand seals. His fellow ANBU turned away from the field in fear of Konoha's most coveted skill. The most dangerous kinjutsu in existance. They all watched, jaws lining the grass, as the dark lord soared through the stormy skies clutching his rear._

_Harry watched in pure awe and reverance of the skill. If only he could touch Voldemort like that... their guard had just utterly humiliated the wizarding world's biggest enemy by giving him the world's worst butt-poke. Oh the shame._

Okay people, please review even if it's just a flame. Flames will be used as a fire to start up the angst for the next chapter of _To take back what's Mine. _But I'd still prefer it if you didn't do that to me. It is considered rude in most countries to make someone cry.

Oh yeah, and I'm looking for possible beta-readers. If you want the job please beta one of the chapters from this story and send the beta'ed version to me. Thank you, people!


	7. Chapter 7

No comments as of now except for one. Thank you (for the third or fourth time) to The Black Infernal Alchemist for being the beta!

Disclaimer: If we used the same disclaimer as someone else, does that mean that we'd have to disclaim the disclaimer _and_ the story?

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As per orders, Wolf and Eagle went about their daily routine as if two Akatsuki members had never shown up on their doorstep and left without a fight. The few teachers and students who saw what had happened could only watch as the two acted as if they hadn't seen fellow shinobi working for their enemy. Whenever someone brought up the topic around them one glance would shut them up in seconds.

A mere day after the run-in with the Akatsuki, Hogwarts received a letter from the Minister. One quick look at Umbridge later and both ANBU knew that it wasn't good. That lady's smile made even the ugliest of all "muggle" peoples look beautiful.

The letter was written in the ANBU's native language and English hinting towards the part that the Ministry wanted to control them. Even if they weren't under their direct contract, being under the contract of someone under their contract did technically put them under the Ministry's power whether they liked it or not.

As they suspected the gist of the letter was that they were no longer allowed to communicate with a foreign party that did not pass the Ministry's standards. The list itself took up nearly one full corridor in tiny print with scarcely any space between letters or words. At the very top of the list was clearly stated and underlined (not to mention, pointed at by one pudgy Frog-face) was "Parties that regularly engage in battle."

Of course, that meant that the ANBU weren't allowed to be there seeing as how they weren't approved of by the Ministry, but most people ignored that fact. After all, if they followed that part of the rule then the guards would leave. And if the guards left before the second party arrived… then they'd be next to defenseless against an attack. Especially an attack from a party that could easily find their two guards.

Overall the mission was going pretty well. There had only been that Death Eater attack that the Ministry denied had ever happened during the course of the mission. For an S-Rank guard mission, that was doing pretty well.

Wolf and Eagle had watched the school as they were ordered for nearly a whole week without word from Konoha. Wolf and Eagle _might_ have been worried if they didn't already know of their Hokage's habits of sleeping on old documents. No doubt she was sleeping on the scrolls she meant to give to them containing further instructions.

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In the Hokage's office, Tsunade sneezed and nearly let go of the scroll. Shizune, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all gave her a weird look before they started to count.

"Bah, stupid Naruto is probably talking to Hyuuga-san about me again," whispered the Godaime (sp?). (AN: She's going with them since word of the Akatsuki sighting was spread over the Hidden Sound. She wants to personally check on Naruto.)

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"G-Guards, P-Professor M-McGonagall sent me to find you," stammered a young boy wearing red robes. _'The poor kid probably doesn't even know that he's talking to a clone,'_ thought Wolf as he appeared from a secret entrance behind the kid.

"Thanks, kid," stated the Wolf clone as he disappeared around a corner to inform Eagle.

The two guards began the trek through the empty stone halls to the enchanted statue that hid the Headmaster from his students. Wolf calmly punched a new hole in the wall and stepped through. Dumbledore had already placed an automatic-rebuilding system into the wall surrounding all the passages that required a password. For some odd reason the two ANBU never seemed to want to use the door like a proper gentleman.

They entered one after another even as the bricks began to rise up behind them. Dumbledore sighed, was it really _that_ hard to remember a candy for Pete's sake? He must've gone through eight different walls in the first month alone!

"Dumbledore-san," they stated in a clear monotone together. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your… summons, Dumbledore-san?" asked Wolf.

"I have just received word that your "Hoe-ka-gay" will be arriving soon," answered the silver haired man with a smile. His smile grew bigger when he saw that the two didn't flinch too badly at how he pronounced the title. "In fact, if everything goes according to plan, they should be arriving… now."

Right on cue a quick flash of light appeared near the fireplace and four adults fell from aforementioned light. One blond lady snapped out her fist and bashed right through the chimney to stop her fall. The other lady fell on her rear, but managed to return standing completely armed a few seconds later. One of the two silver haired men had a hand near his left eye while the other hand was reaching towards a pouch. The last guy was in the form to summon up a quick Rasengan.

Behind the mask, Wolf couldn't help but smile at his superior's actions. In glee the blond haired man shouted out, "Baa-chan! Shizune-chan! Ero-sennin! Kakashi-sensei!"

Eagle just shook her head in dismay when two of the three Legendary Sannin ran up to the blond ANBU and gave him a bone-cracking hug. Really, anyone could hear the snapping if they were half-deaf. Dumbledore just blinked at their odd behavior. For the leader of some great village, this lady sure didn't seem all that strong. Besides, this blond lady was acting oddly like a particular Mrs. Weasley. Were they related or was this a female-only thing? Hmm… the world shall never know.

"Ah, gomen. I am the Godaime Hokage Tsunade of the three Legendary Sannin," introduced the blond lady as she finally unattached herself from the poor boy.

"Shizune, apprentice of Tsunade."

"The Legendary Toad Sannin of Konoha, Jiraiya!"

"Hn? Oh, it's my turn… Hatake Kakashi."

Everyone would've sweat-dropped at Kakashi's introduction if they were in Konoha, but seeing as how they were not in the village they opted not to.

"And I am Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of…" the headmaster stopped when he realized that no one was paying attention to him. All four newcomers were engaged in a fast-action conversation in Japanese that involved a lot of Wolf backing away from the two "Legendary Sannin." _'Yeesh, these guys are polite,'_ thought Dumbledore.

"—No, really. Itachi didn't touch me at all. He and fish-face just sorta glared at me the whole time. Honest! Hanabi-chan was there, too. She can tell you that I am not lying!" Wolf turned to look pleadingly at the Hyuuga girl. Hanabi just sighed and shook her head.

"Uzumaki! If you do not let us examine the seal immediately I shall _personally_ force Ichiraku to not sell you ramen for a month!" declared Tsunade proudly. Everyone gaped at the guard when he sank to the floor in tears.

"N-n-n-no…" Naruto sniffed, "r-r-ramen?"

"Oh, I'd be scared now, Naruto-kun! She's serious!" declared Shizune proudly.

While those three fought over trying to examine the seal Kakashi was busy reading a violently orange book and Jiraiya was looking _not-perverted!_

Eagle nearly fainted at that detail. Every kunoichi worth her salt knew about the Toad Sannin's peeping habits. They all knew that they should attack him on sight if he was near a hot spring, too.

"E-Ero-sennin! I think one of your toads got loose and bred with a human here!" shouted Naruto (as the two women had removed the mask to check his face). Everyone froze and stared at the blond ANBU. Even Dumbledore. A crow cawed outside and something (probably Peeves) yelled _really_ loudly. No one paid either any mind.

"Nani?" asked Kakashi as he finally removed his nose from the pages.

"No I am serious. Her name is Umbridge and she looks like a mutant half-bred toad!" declared Naruto. Dumbledore choked on the tea he had conjured and spat it out. _That_ he understood.

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The rest of the meeting was in Japanese simply because the four newcomers didn't know English. Dumbledore opted to use a temporary translation spell to understand the conversation, which was a very long mission update. By the time the spell wore off, however, Naruto was literally dragged out of his office by the two "Sannin of Konoha".

The entire school could still hear his cries of how he was fine. Pity none of them understood Japanese.

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The next few weeks went by relatively well. A rumor of some revolt against Dumbridge was popping up every now and then, but most were ferociously shot down before they left the lips of one or two students. Bluntly, none of the ANBU cared about such a league. In fact, it _might_ be fun to show a few of the stronger students how to use Henge…

It was such a shame that Tsunade had forbidden the use of any jutsu unless there was an appearance of any more shinobi.

Speaking of shinobi… the infamous Green Beast of Konoha (AN: I think that's what Lee's title is) was supposed to appear soon. May the children cower in fear of the _shiny teeth jutsu!_

Wolf just shuddered at the mere thought of that fearsome jutsu. However those two freaks of nature did it, they had managed to frighten away a good portion of possible clients during the one day they were on guard duty. Wolf sighed – an action that caused many students to veer away from him – now if only those two would do that against their enemies…

The elite ANBU continued to patrol the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Supposedly Lee had set out several months ago and was going to run, swim, and hike all the way to Hogwarts with only a map that marked the school (made by Dumbledore himself!) to go by. Right before leaving Kakashi-sensei had assured him that Lee would make it or "do ten-thousand one handed push-ups on each hand." Somehow none of the shinobi doubted that the Beast was serious.

Wolf leaned his head back to watch the clouds – a habit he had picked up from Shikamaru during strategy training – and took a deep breath. All the crazy magic had somehow managed to subdue Kyuubi for a while meaning that Wolf had _peace_ while Kyuubi attempted to find out how to do magic using foxy tail-seals.

With a small smile the ANBU released a suppressed wave of chakra out to scout for Lee. There were two foreign chakra signatures approaching the grounds, both very large and at a high speed; one smaller signature a long way off traveling at a higher speed; about two hundred next-to non-existent chakra signatures wandering the grounds; a few slightly larger signatures amongst the puny ones; several signatures large enough to pass as an Academy student or a genin inside the building; and a few large enough to pass as chuunin or jounin. _'Well, the really fast one would be Lee. The two hundred puny signatures _(they made Lee's look mediocre) _would be students as well as those that are slightly larger. Now that would leave… two intruders. Great! I've been looking forward to more action!'_

Smirking, Wolf jumped up as high as he could and threw a kunai straight down. Several students froze in place at what had happened. Their guard just jumped at least twenty feet up!

All the other students froze when they heard a large rustling in the forest, one as if something or somethings were moving _very_ fast. Several girls screamed and dropped their books and bags where they were when they saw the intruders.

One violently green clothed man had a fist right in a white haired man's gut while one black haired man just stood there. In one hand he held a kunai, blade down. The black haired man just smirked as he watched the ANBU land silently on his feet and create a kage bunshin. Both glared at each other; one with cold blue eyes, the other with flaming red ones.

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Muhahaha! Intruders have arrived! I hope I didn't make it to painfully obvious as to who everyone is. You can tell me just how obvious the identities are in a review! So please click that little button down there. It wants a friend...


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Guess what? I own the fan-girls of DOOM! I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter.

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Several girls released a high pitched squeal of joy, one that managed to snap all the tension the two glaring men had built up.

"Who is it?"

"I dunno! But whoever he is _can't _be evil! He's just to HAWT!"

"He's _so_ dreamy!"

"Just look at his abs!"

"His face is such a beautiful milky white… I wish I could look like that…"

"OMG! He's mine!"

All the present shinobi sweat dropped.

"Err… that pretty well ruins the suspense," stated Wolf with a grin.

"Wolf! What is this?" demanded one deputy headmistress.

"Stay back! These men's flames of youth are dangerous!" shouted Lee. All the fan-girls gawked at the man with no fashion sense.

Wolf could feel the looks Dumbledore and his staff were giving him. "It's okay. Lee here is with me. Get all the present students _away_ _now_. Things are about to get _very_ violent," warned Wolf without even bothering to look back. Somewhere behind him he could hear someone scratching something on a piece of parchment attached to a clipboard.

"What are these, Dobe? Your employers? They don't seem very bright. …But what can I say? Birds of a feather flock together!" sneered the black haired man, oddly reminding Wolf of a particular slimy haired "git" as the British would call him.

Out on top of a hill Draco Malfoy sneezed before contemplating the levels of pollen in the air and preparing to complain to his father about it.

"_Hem, hem. _Might I inquire what the meaning of this is?" asked the sickeningly sweet voice of Dumbridge.

"It does not matter to you. Just get yours and all the student's butts off this ground, fast!" demanded Wolf.

The black haired man just snickered. "Look, Kabuto. The Dobe can't even get his employer to safety. I wonder… what will he do if he – I don't know – _accidentally _lets one of his charges die?"

The silver haired man finally recovered from having a fist jammed into your gut at one-hundred-and-fifty plus miles per hour and chuckled. "Well, Sasuke-sama, I imagine that he'd fall into tears."

"I'm sorry to break up this happy little chat of yours, but I can't allow you to kill her no matter how much I'd like you to. If anyone is killing Dumbridge it shall be by my own hand!" snarled Wolf before suddenly zoning out.

Dumb – err, Umbridge – suddenly turned very pale. Even if the guard wasn't going to let this "Sauce-gay-sama" kill her, the guard himself had just announced a desire to kill her! Turning suddenly she began to usher all the students back to the castle with the other teachers minus Dumbledore. Dumbledore was busy investigating what that _snaky _feeling was.

"You are a traitor to Konoha! My flames of youth shall obliterate all of you!" declared Lee with his infamous shiny teeth jutsu, one of which was unfortunately hidden by his mask. Everyone watched as the green clothed man disappeared from his spot and began to attack Kabuto. Or he would've – he was about to punch the poor bloke across the jaw – when a particularly malicious release of killer intent attracted their attention.

"Heh heh heh… really, Dobe? Did you think that something as simple as _that _would stop me? Me? The great Uchiha Sasuke, the last Uchiha?" demanded the black haired man as he released his own killer intent, just slightly larger than Wolf's.

His newly gained fan club all dissolved into tears as the crushing powers of the killer intent washed over them.

Several wizards and witches watched with renewed interest as Wolf dispelled all of the killer intent with a wave of chakra before reaching up to his mask. "You should be honored, Teme, traitor, _Uchiha._ I image your snake-man has already told you of the legend, ne?" asked Wolf with a ferocious smirk despite the fact that the entire school gasped at the "snake-man" part. This man was in league with Vold—You-Know-Who!

"You know, the legend of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune," Wolf clarified. A few bookworms – Hermione and Dumbledore in particular – listened with renewed interest. Lee, who had removed his Cougar mask after realizing that his flashy teeth jutsu was blocked, tried not to burst out with a million questions. According to all known lore the Kyuubi was gone!

"Of course I know all about the legend! I know all about how you beat that Hyuuga-boy using his power too! And I'm not afraid. I've beaten him once and I can beat him again!" declared the Uchiha proudly.

Wolf just shook his head sadly before ripping the mask off his face. Everyone shuddered at the cold expression on his face and the whisker marks on his cheeks. "You only won because I promised a cherry tree that I'd bring you back alive. I held the power at bay and you know it," whispered Naruto as he tossed the mask behind him like a Frisbee to land neatly on his bed through a (now broken) window.

"A-ano, Naruto-kun, but could you… you know…" asked Lee, for once forgetting the entire "Flames of Youth" junk.

"You know the law. Follow it," stated Naruto. "But I feel generous today. I'll let the Kyuubi no Kitsune speak for himself!" Dumbledore stared at the guard for a moment before sighing. This would take a _lot_ of memory charms to fix.

Naruto lowered his head and smirked. Sasuke widened his eyes and prepared a chidori. Under no circumstances would he be able to hold up against a demon, let alone a demon _lord._

Dumbledore nearly swore. "Minerva, Severus! Perform all the protective charms and wards you can! We _must_ keep the battle away from the students!" shouted the headmaster as he whipped out his wand. No one dared to try and stun the guard. There was no doubt that he'd dodge it and turn on them if a demon was let loose.

The first of many wards had appeared sealing off the four shinobi from everyone else just in time for the red chakra to leak from Naruto's feet and spread upwards. By this time Umbridge had given up all hope on bringing the students to safety and ran into the building in hopes of saving her own hide.

A darker killing intent washed over everyone than ever before. The few students that had collapsed in tears earlier fainted from the sheer power. Several Gryffindor students began to cry or hug one another. Most everyone else was already on the floor in sheer terror. The few that still stood could see their lives flashing before them. Only those who stood next to Dumbledore's calm aura of controlled power didn't feel the full effects.

"Ha ha ha… heh heh heh… ha ha h**a ha ha ha ha! AH ha ha ha ha! Freedom at last!" **laughed the newly released Kyuubi. **"Tis only a shame that the stupid seal won't let me use all my power or let me stay out for long… stupid human."**

Sasuke swallowed hard. There was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The _monster_ that had _eaten_ his master! And it dared to take over his rival's body! Now how was he supposed to get the Mangekyou?

"**Ah… that's right… the landlord wants me to tell you my tale. Hmm… and he even offers to let me kill Kabuto. I think I like this deal. I don't get to kill much anymore, stupid Konoha. Stupid Yondaime. STUPID SHINIGAMI!"** roared the enraged fox demon. **"Heh heh heh… I won't tell any stories until I get my paycheck. Time for you to die, medic!" **With a feral roar two tails of bloody chakra ripped out of Naruto's tailbone and wrapped around Kabuto, suffocating him. Tendrils of excess chakra ripped at his hair and clothes, completely obliterating the medic's glasses.

The Sound-nin could only scream as the fiery and bloody chakra began to burn into his skin. Everyone – even the students in the school – watched in horror as the Kyuubi-Naruto-Guard began to laugh and extend wicked sharp claws. Several girls screamed at the sight. Two more chakra tails extended from the Jinchuuriki and began to burn Kabuto as the medic began to chop at the tails with two chakra scalpels.

"**Foolish mortal. You cannot defeat me. Even with the bindings of this flesh I cannot be beaten," **snarled the Kyuubi with a smirk. The red eyed man turned towards his fellow leaf shinobi. **"I believe your name is Lee, correct? Well, Lee, how should I kill a traitor of the leaf? A traitor to the village that ensnared me and imprisoned me within a blond haired brat? Both ways the medic dies and maybe you with it. Hmm… that stupid brat didn't give me any restrictions regarding you."**

Lee swallowed hard before gesturing to do as the fox wished. Uzumaki Naruto, the village idiot, was holding this power at bay? What powerful flames of youth must the Captain possess! Not to mention that his captain had some control over him? Impossible! The Kyuubi had managed to destroy half of Konoha's army and a fourth of the city before he was defeated – no, captured!

And yet he was being held at bay by a mere boy, barely a man by the British standards.

Dumbledore smartly blocked the view from the other side of the wards and shields as the screams of pain reached the student's ears. Most students had fainted by now. The screams of pure terror and pain were enough to make _Voldemort_ find a nice hidey-hole to stay in. And he had _hired_ this fearsome power! Just imagine what the Ministry would do with this!

When the view blocker was lowered again only the normal (albeit bloody) Naruto was standing there in a pool of blood. Some of the red juices were getting drunk into the roots of the grass and trees around him. At his feet lay the torn and unrecognizable corpse of Kabuto. All that remained to show his identity was the patch of bloody silver hair, the hitai-ate, and his glasses.

Sasuke licked his lips.

"Lee-san, get out of these wards. The Uchiha is going to learn why he shouldn't have left Konoha in a very painful way. You know my attacks and what the… consequences are," stated Naruto with a smile. Lee nodded quickly before saluting and running full-speed to the edge of the wards. He was about to exit when a particular cough stopped the three shinobi from flying.

"I do believe that someone has a story to tell, hm?" asked Snape with a sneer.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a second before nodding. "Lee-san deserves the truth," he mumbled. "Several years ago—"

"Oi! Dobe, save the history for later. That is… if you survive! Chidori!" shouted the Uchiha as he launched towards his blond rival, Sharingan eyes spinning.

"Ha! That means you think I'll live! Baka!" shouted Naruto.

Lee had only managed to clear the wards when the electricity charged chakra came tearing through the bloody grass. Naruto watched the move quite levelly for someone about to get pierced again and waited for the Uchiha to approach. The sounds of thousands of birds woke a good portion of the students, who watched in horror as the bullet of thunder raced towards their guard.

Blood splattered across the grass once more as Naruto attempted to dodge. The blond looked down levelly upon his left arm. Sasuke's open hand had pierced through his bicep and was touching the bone. Just lovely.

With a sigh Naruto yanked the palm out of his arm and let the fox begin to regenerate the lost muscle. He really didn't need to have upped his weights yesterday…

"Heh, and here I was hoping for a better challenge, Dobe."

Naruto just smirked back, tightening his grip on Sasuke's bloody wrist. Harry, Ron, and Hermione only watched in horror from the hill as the Uchiha backed away with pure fury in his eyes gripping his wrist. A ball of pure _magic_ slowly died out on the guard's palm.

"Now really, I was hoping that you'd know better than that Teme!"

Sasuke snarled and raised his arms to chest level. "Seneijashu!" he shouted as several hundred snakes began to pour from his sleeves.

At this Naruto frowned. "I thought you knew, Teme. Foxes don't like Snakes and Kyuubi is _itching_ for fried snake apprentice tonight. Ooh… what's this? He even wants to rip your eyes out… one by one… and give them to me. Huh? Isn't that curious! I'd be the _first Hokage to wield a Sharingan!_ Curious, ne?" teased Naruto as he slashed at each of the shadow snakes with a kunai.

Sasuke just growled and began to release his curse seal, a simple gift that Kabuto had managed to keep on him even after Orochimaru's death. The wizards could only watch in fear as the Uchiha removed the few weights he wore and let the black marks cover all of his skin.

"You still have that? Are you really that power hungry that you'd keep the curse that he gave you even after his death? How… weak!" declared Naruto.

"DIE!" shouted Sasuke as he powered up two chidori and one around his entire body. Harry and Ron winced as all the lightening struck the barrier. Hermione flat out screamed and the two boys attempted to cover their ears in time to save their sense of sound.

As the smoke and dust settled to the floor again two panting ninja stood in the center of a large square field, completely devoid of all life. "H-h-how?" asked Sasuke through heavy breaths.

"H-heh… baka. The fox doesn't just sit around in a simple cage all day doing nothing. You've just met my Demonic Technique: Impenetrable Defenses (AN: Japanese translation PLEASE). You can thank Gaara for that one," stated Naruto as he began to shed layer upon layer of metal. The few wizards that had awakened (or managed to stay awake) and hadn't fainted again gawked at the plumes of dirt rising from the ground at the weights. "You forgot something, Teme. I promised Sakura-chan that I'd bring you back and I never go back on my word!"

Lee cried in joy at Naruto's words. "Go Naruto! Your flames of youth burn brightly! Defeat the cold heart of the youthless Uchiha!"

Everyone besides the two fighters sweat dropped.

A breath of wind followed the appearance of the sweat drops. Both ninja leaped off the ground and began a furious taijutsu battle, disappearing and reappearing in small whirlwinds of dirt. Lee really started to cry. "His flames of youth burn so passionately! His speed is only slightly below my own!"

All the wizards turned to stare at the crying boy. They couldn't catch the actual action as the two fighters were going to fast. This crying _thing_ of a guard was _faster_ than those two speed demons in there? Not possible!

"Um… Lee? Who is winning?" asked a tentative McGonagall, fearing the sanity of the boy over her appearance as a strict rule follower.

"Hm? Ah! Naruto-kun shall win for his flames of youth burn brighter and far larger!" shouted Lee. At that point no one dared ask him about the battle and rather started wishing that they had brought omnioculars (AN: Is that what they're called?).

They continued to watch in vain for a sign of who was winning when two grunts of pain informed them of the outcome. On one side of the field Naruto had blood coming out of the corners of his mouth. On the other side Sasuke was crouched on his knees gripping his curse seal in pain.

Everyone could only watch in fear as the boy glared at Naruto and began to _change._ Longer white hair, the long cross shaped scar, the yellow eyes, the tanned skin, and worse of all, the giant leathery wings that had just sprouted from his back.

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Sorry I got this out so late. School started again for me. Bleh. At least the teachers haven't gotten around to assigning homework quite yet. Anyways, because school has started again don't be alarmed by late updates like this or error-ridden chapters. Chances are I won't have enough time to thoroughly rake through each chapter for any mistakes. Therefore if you see any in the upcoming chapters please tell me and I'll try to fix them. Other than that... **review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

I'm back! School has had it's first full week and already I've gotten three different projects and two essays. My free time will be a bit scarce, but I will try and update weekly. If all else fails this story will end up getting updated on the weekends.

Disclaimer: I woke up this morning and found the rights to Harry Potter and Naruto sitting on my radio. Unfortunately the alarm clock went off and the rights disappeared.

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Naruto just smirked at the mutant nukenin. Now seemed like a perfect time to try out _that_ skill. The power he and the Kyuubi had spent so much time to perfect. The jutsu he had worked on so diligently since the death of Orochimaru and the promotion as the first gennin ANBU. The "full" transformation.

In sync the two men bit their left thumb and began several insanely fast hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" they both shouted. Instantly the barriers and wards shattered as the two huge summon animals appeared under the men's feet. The wizards scrambled to recreate the barriers and move the children out of harm's way.

"Okay, Gamabunta! We're going to use _it_ since he's gone mutant. You know what to do, right?" shouted Naruto.

"Whatever gaki. It's your life, not mine, even if you were one of the best Summoners I've had," replied the giant red frog.

"You'd better give me a good sacrifice for this," hissed Manda. Sasuke just sighed. _Why_ did he summon someone again? Oh yeah, because he could save chakra if he had someone to jump off of when he started flying. _'I just hope this works…'_ prayed the Uchiha.

Sasuke squinted when he saw Naruto going through several weird hand seals. The Uchiha instinctively focused on them until he realized that the Kyuubi was busy sending chakra through Naruto's coils and screwing up his vision of the jutsu. Hissing his annoyance the Uchiha removed his gaze and prepared for whatever the dead last could pull. Sasuke watched, semi-amused, as Naruto jumped off the head of the battling toad boss and unfurled two giant flaming red chakra wings. Curse-seal Sasuke jumped off and unfurled his own leathery wings. Both staring straight into the other's eyes, one boy's red and black while the other had one blue and one red both with slits.

Sasuke quickly took this time to attempt and asses the effects of the weird jutsu. The Chidori was hissing and spitting as steam rose from the wound and covered the bone quickly. Where Naruto's red eye was he had the normal birthmarks and with the blue eye was the deeper, more pronounced birthmarks. Most remaining girls screamed at the sight and the wicked _bloodthirsty_ smirk on his fanged mouth. Sasuke swore he heard someone crying out "Blimey! He's just anot'er poor half-monster! Poor bloke, pro'ly went through a lot fer it."

"**Teme! Why are you here?**" shouted Naruto, his voice doubling with that of the Kyuubi.

"You should know better than anyone else, Dobe," replied Sasuke as he drew forth the Kusanagi. Naruto frowned at the sword. _'And here I was hoping I would never have to see that stupid blade again,' _thought Naruto as he armed himself with the only sword he bore, the one nicely heated (from the chakra flames) on his back.

"**Are you talking about Itachi again? Or power? You know he's disappointed that you joined that Snake-freak,**" commented Naruto as he prepared himself for the fury that would surely come soon.

"Shut up. I will _kill_ him just as he killed me!" hissed Sasuke as he launched forward with a wide sweep from the sword. Down below Lee turned to face the sweating teachers.

"Are the wards up?" he asked, but when he saw the looks of intense concentration he knew that the wards were being torn down the second they were erected. Turning on his toes, the Green Beast of Konoha began to scoop up the children closest and sprinted towards the castle. If he couldn't help the battle then he'd help those who could get hurt! For any other way was unyouthful!

Naruto saw this and mentally smiled. Yes, Lee was smart for not trying to engage in battle. Even if he was stronger in this form and he kept his mind as opposed to using the Kyuubi's raw chakra this form took way to much chakra on both sides to maintain and if he ran out of human chakra then the nine-tails would have complete control of his body and the ability to pump all nine tails worth of chakra through his system regardless of if he could handle it or not. If Kyuubi got in control not even every wizard on the face of the planet would be able to stop him unless they had at least fifty people like Dumbledore all use a stunning charm. But even then, a freed and boundless Kyuubi was dangerous, even unconscious.

The blond boy was knocked out of his thoughts as Sasuke unleashed a huge flurry of swipes upon his body. Naruto mentally cursed as he felt the wounds open and then close in a haze of steam. "**Foolish human, you should've known that you can't kill the Kyuubi!**" mocked Naruto.

Sasuke just hissed at Naruto. This _thing_ was all that stood in his way from defeating his brother! Why couldn't he just lie down and die? With a battle cry (or hiss) the Uchiha threw himself at the Uzumaki, disappearing and reappearing at a speed previously unattainable for him. Naruto cursed, even if he had merged minds and senses with the Kyuubi, the dang demon fox had never bothered to work on following fast brats. Therefore that stupid traitor was just able to continue pounding away at Naruto without a fight!

'**_Stupid brat! I'm taking over!'_** roared the Kyuubi inside Naruto's head. Naruto's vision went blurry as the Kyuubi began screwing up its half of the chakra flow through his body. With a sharp pain in his head the Kyuubi sent out a triumphant burst of chakra. All around Naruto everything froze. Literally. Or nearly froze for those who wanted to be technical.

Naruto could only watch helplessly as the Kyuubi seized his control over his human chakra preventing him from bursting out. Before his eyes Sasuke was moving a millimeter a minute, his Sharingan spinning at a speed just below the regular speed. Kyuubi flew to the other side of the Uchiha and gave him a sharp blow to the spine. At that moment whatever time jutsu Kyuubi had activated wore off and Sasuke completed his lightning-quick slash before noticing where Kyuubi was and the pain in his back.

The Uchiha coughed up blood and let it fall to the earth and land on Dumbridge's pointy high heel. At that point Dumbridge screamed and all the gates of the underworld burst open.

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Itachi liked this mission. It was simple: go in, chop off a few heads, kill any witnesses, go back, present heads, and get paid. The two Akatsuki ninja ran full pelt through the Forbidden Forest ignoring the squelching bumps the heads in Kisame's sack made as their feet and backs struck the material. Suddenly both stopped and Itachi activated his Sharingan.

Itachi grimaced. They were standing at the edge of some _very_ complicated jutsu. Powerful too, to judge by the way the leaves weren't moving in the breeze both ninja felt. The two partners exchanged glances and nodded. In less than a second both had plunged into the middle of the field.

To the two Akatsuki members they were going extremely fast; as in get-out-of-here-as-fast-as-you-can-everyone-is-chasing-us fast, but to the world that wasn't caught up in the weird jutsu they looked like two people who were walking _very_ slowly (Sasuke's speed) and at a _very_ weird aerodynamic angle.

And then the jutsu was momentarily lifted. The two shot off faster than bullets from a machine gun and reappeared in the school grounds just as the jutsu was replaced. The Uchiha Clan Head and the Shark-man both noticed the Kyuubi's chakra instantly. After all, it was somewhat hard to miss a giant flaming _thing_ flying and fighting against a monster, even if the world around you was slowed to the point where you couldn't move your head.

Just then they noticed the green clothed man running at a normal walking speed ferrying children to the school. The two attempted to nod in acknowledgment, but the time jutsu was hindering their greetings for the moment. And then the time jutsu was lifted and Itachi felt someone's blood hit his hair. _Sasuke's blood_ hit his _hair._ With a growl the Uchiha Clan Head had thrown the bag of heads at Lee for him to deal with. The Green Beast just threw the bag up next to the school walls for later use. Right now there were children's Flames of Youth to save!

Before the time jutsu could be replaced up above Naruto had regained the partial control he shared with the Kyuubi. At once the time jutsu was weakened from Naruto's poorer chakra control and Sasuke was able to swoop down near Naruto's main charges: Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The three teenagers were so shocked at having the monster in their faces that they couldn't even try to stop him as Sasuke scooped the threesome up into his left arm. Itachi activated his Mangekyou, knowing full well that his superiors would obliterate him if they let the mission of their client be compromised because of them. To his disappointment Sasuke refused to look him in the eye as the Uchiha boy prepared a chidori.

"You die here and now, Itachi!" screamed Sasuke as he streaked down towards Itachi, using the kids' combined weight to help pull him down faster.

Hermione screamed as she felt blood hit her cheeks. She was in the arms of a demon. A monster. A killer. And she was defenseless against his speed.

Slowly she opened her eyes when she realized that she wasn't dead. The monster's hand was bloody and cut from the giant sword on the blue man's back. The monster's face was curled up in a snarl as he retracted his arm and flew off to the woods, carrying Harry, Ron, and herself with him.

Behind and below them, in the trees, were the two oddly dressed assassins/mercenaries. Directly behind them was their weird guard and behind all of them was the green clothed freak. _'At least we still have some hope left,'_ thought Hermione as she felt another tree brush against her leg. And then all the trees stopped and Hermione instantly knew why.

"We're at the lake's source…" she murmured to no one though her friends and captor heard her. Behind her the monster snorted. So awed by something so simple… such a shame his chakra was beginning to run low. _'Dang it! If I don't defeat all four of them soon I'm going to run out of chakra!' _thought the Uchiha with anger. Even after all that training with Orochimaru-sama he _still_ couldn't hold the curse seal level two for more than an hour when he was fresh, rested, and maxed out in terms of chakra and rest.

"**Teme! Leave the children out of this!**" shouted Naruto. Harry could only gape at what the guard had said. From what the boy's face looked like their guard couldn't be much older than he was!

Sasuke just chuckled and answered, "As you wish!" The Golden Trio could only gasp as they felt a sensation similar to that of a portkey pull them away from the battle. In the rush of colors, sounds, and oddly smoke the three could clearly make out one line, "**Dang it, Sasuke! That wasn't what I mean!**"

The three fell in an undignified heap in the middle of a dark cave. All around them snakes hissed. Harry stiffened and instinctively reached for his scar, attracting the attention of his friends.

"Harry, mate, is You-Know-Who here?" whispered Ron, his face ashen.

But his answer wasn't in English as he had hoped. No, Harry Potter was trying to talk the snakes into betraying the most snake-like man alive.

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Naruto continued to swear even as the other three ninja came. Behind him one loud pop was heard as one of the two summoned animals disappeared, followed shortly by the other as they had both exhausted themselves.

"Naruto-kun! Where are the children?" shouted Lee, once again foregoing his Flames of Youth speech in times of a crisis.

"**That's just it, Lee. This bastard over here just sent them away to who-knows-where**," replied Naruto, not even bothering to censor his mouth now that there were no kid's minds to corrupt. Itachi and Kisame exchanged glances and Kisame nodded and began to unwrap the frighteningly _live_ sword on his back. Sasuke swore at the sight of the sword, having known about what dangers the Samehada was capable of creating. He was already low on chakra and if that chakra eater got a hold of the last bits then he'd be dead meat! The curse seal's effects would end and he'd be nothing more than a broken doll ready for death or capture.

With a sneer the younger Uchiha wrapped his leathery wings together and disappeared in a cloud of ninja smoke. Naruto could only look saddened for a few seconds before his flaming wings flickered and died. The blond ANBU Captain plummeted at full speed towards the ground to land in an undignified heap on Lee.

"Get Dumbledore to alter their memories. They can't know of what happened today," muttered the exhausted jinchuuriki. Lee attempted to nod with the ANBU on his back before getting up and shouldering Naruto. The shinobi knew what Naruto wanted. The other brats weren't supposed to know what had happened today. The two Konoha-nin left without a word to the two Akatsuki ninja, but didn't stop them when Kisame followed and Itachi began to try and trace Sasuke's path.

Lee understood that Kisame wouldn't take Naruto simply because he was still considered under the protection of those five weird guys the Captain had reported. He also understood that Kisame or Itachi could've taken him in the blink of an eye if they wanted to. A shower of sparks (courtesy of Dumbledore) led the way back to the school. The ninja instantly took Naruto to the hospital wing before turning and rounding up every sign of the battle.

"Dumbledore-san. Wolf-san had asked that you erase the memories of the battle from the minds of the children and Kisame-san wants to have his payment," reported Lee with a bow. Dumbledore returned this gesture to both Lee and the shark-man before handing a small tear-shaped gem to the Akatsuki ninja.

"Mr. Wolf's request shall be met, and it was a pleasure dealing with you, Mr. Kisame," stated Dumbledore while inclining his head to both of them. Kisame snorted and grabbed the gem close to his chest as he left the school in a way only a ninja could do. Seriously, what was up with the British and their use of all this "Misses" and "Misters?" Were they missing someone and were therefore called "missers?" But he wasn't missing anything! Those British peoples were officially weird.

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I have a poll for you people. A wonderful reviewer wanted to know if Snape was going to meet the Kyuubi. Well, I'm willing to send him in there but I'd like to know who'd want Snape to meet him, hear stories of him, not get involved period, or something special. If you want something special please tell me what you might have in mind.

Anyways, I think the results of the Sasuke poll is obvious. Sasuke did appear, but his fate might've deviated from what some of you wanted. He'll show up again, but I'm not going to reveal under what circumstances, so don't even bother asking. Orochimaru's fate however... while he may be dead, not all dead go on to meet Mr. Shinigami...

Heh heh heh heh... I hope I didn't reveal too much right there. Anyways, please review. They make me feel happy and inspired. Inspiration makes me write longer chapters faster than if I'm dragged into it by the feeling of _having_ to write just to meet my own standards. Trust me when I say that only good stuff happens when I get reviews.


	10. Chapter 10

Hi, this is Beta the Second expressing my surprise at how many chapters this thing has. Okay, past the shock of putting out my first dual-digit chapter, my free time -- including my weekends -- are getting eaten alive by school events. Just in October alone I've got three Saturdays in a row filled with one all-day event or another. ... So yeah. The chapters may or may not end up getting updated as quickly thought I'm still aiming for a weekly update. Only a quick heads-up so that no one will be overly depressed when they don't see the story updated on Friday or early Saturday.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto or Harry Potter I would've written at least ten chapters for one storyline or another by now.

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True to his word Dumbledore had performed a mass memory charm on all of his students and staff to have them forget the entire episode; well, with the exception of two witches and himself. Dumbledore himself trusted McGonagall enough to have her keep the memories away from the magical bindings, though Umbridge had pulled all the rank she held to escape. And thus the three wizards who had retained the memories of the weird kid's fight and flight were currently standing around the hospital bed of one (still) sleeping guard.

During the battle none of them had gotten the chance to really examine the guard's face. They had gotten more than enough time to examine the weird "Flames of Youth" kid before he ran off at top speeds to patrol the school, but that same kid had insisted that he be the one to bring in his Captain. McGonagall couldn't help but feel impressed when she looked at Naruto's face. Though you really couldn't see it on Lee thanks to his flashy sparkles and backgrounds the boy still had his share of scars littering his face. Naruto, on the other hand, was completely unblemished with the exception to his "whiskers".

The blue eyed guard was sleeping so innocently on the white sheets; looking years younger than he was. And generations more innocent that his lifestyle had led him to become. McGonagall sighed and turned away. According to Poppy it would still be a few weeks until he was awake again.

Beside her Umbridge was making a _very_ crude sketch of his face. The picture itself was a completely inaccurate description of the boy and could've made any half-wit Muggle kindergartener look like a whole new genius artist. Privately she planned to burn the picture to save whatever poor soul on the receiving end a whole lot of grief.

Shortly after she had left the wing the sad attempt at an artist followed, smirking at what she obviously thought was a masterpiece. Sadly for the two of them if they had just waited a few more minutes they could've seen the one thing that their headmaster had been waiting for (though they didn't know it.)

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Dumbledore continued to study the unconscious guard with interest. That weird voice… it sounded like a spiteful, ancient, and furious _beast_ had come along and joined with the guard. What had happened to the guard? He was so strong before but that power… it was as if all the floodgates protecting them from _their guard_ had been shattered into thousands of pieces. If this was the power of an ANBU Captain he certainly didn't want to meet up with their _Hokage's_ power.

At the mere thought one of the world's most powerful wizards shuddered. Who would've known that the blond lady held such a power within her and her subordinates?

As the silver haired man continued to study the young man his senses suddenly went on high alert. Something wasn't right. The same fearsome power was creeping up in the room again though it was much more watered down than it had been out in the school grounds. Whipping out his wand the wizard began to look around the innocently white hospital ward.

Then the old man rested his gaze upon one of the few hospitalized people. The boy – _'Man'_ Dumbledore furiously corrected himself – was shifting about as if he was in a nightmare. The headmaster hesitantly reached a hand to the man's shoulder in an attempt to shake him out of whatever nightmare he had entered when he felt the cold tendrils of raw _power_ leaking from the man's skin.

Dumbledore's eyes widened as he felt the tendrils curl up around his hand and engulf his wrist. The wizened old man attempted to pull his hand away but the tendrils just rose higher and held firm. With an almighty yank of his hand the guard's _blood red_ eyes snapped open. Dumbledore stumbled back, startled by the guard's sudden consciousness and eye color.

And then everything snapped into place. The way the guard seemed to have frozen up every now and then right when that faint feeling of power entered his senses. The way his Hokage and her three attendants had babbled on about some "seal" (that was one of the few things he had understood from their fast conversation). And, most importantly, how the guard had managed to fuse momentarily with some ancient evil. Why hadn't he seen it on the field? For crying out loud the guard had nearly _told his face_ that he held something back!

He was the "seal" that held some great beast back. And the shinobi's earlier conversation during the battlefield…

"So… you've finally figured it out. Damn. (AN: I normally don't swear this much, but Naruto's character is in jeopardy!) Well, you might as well bring in Bush—er, Lee, and I'll just spill. Not that you probably haven't already linked everything together. This is a Class S secret, punishable by death. If you spill to _anyone_ I shall not hesitate," stated Naruto as his eyes slowly shifted from red to blue, though the pupils refused to change as fast.

Dumbledore nodded an affirmative to his request and summoned a house-elf to go fetch the exotic (to put it mildly) guard. A few seconds later the doors to the hospital were thrown open to reveal a smiling Lee – complete with the "Good Guy" pose.

"A tiny creature filled with the flames of YOUTH called me here! I, Rock Lee the Green Beast of Konoha, am here to serve!" declared Lee loudly. Almost instantly Madame Promfey came in and yelled at the bowl haired man for yelling.

"Yes… I was going to explain… you might as well know, Lee. That traitor did say a bit much and if you get too confused then all of Konoha will know sooner or later," stated Naruto with the ghost of one of his famous grins creeping up on his face. Lee just nodded his head in agreement. Okay, so he might not go babble _that _much, just ask Gai and start proclaiming his youthfulness to all Konoha.

"I trust you also know the Third's Law. …A law created so that I might have a chance with the younger generations. Even after his death the Law is still in effect. Don't break it. And from you, Dumbledore-san, I want a "Wizard's Oath" or whatever they are. _No spilling this!_" shouted Naruto; which caused Madame Promfey to come too before leaving once more after a brief lecture about "inside voices."

When the old wizard agreed and performed the Oath and a room-sized silencing charm Naruto took a deep breath, preparing himself both physically and mentally for what would happen next.

"Eighteen years ago the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked my hometown, Konoha. According to your books the fox disappeared. According to our scrolls our Hokage, the deceased Yondaime, killed him. According to the older generation of Konoha the fox still lives. According to the older citizens and a few shinobi who have yet to work with me I am the Kyuubi. According to the deceased Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, Tsunade-baa-chan, Ero-sennin, and a handful of other ninja who know and care I am the last victim of the Kyuubi. Have you figured it out by now?" asked Naruto with a smirk. The look in Dumbledore's eyes gave away the fact that he had figured it out already. Lee was still staring into space as he attempted to process this information.

"…This is getting boring. I'm a Jinchuuriki, but if you call me that I swear you shall be knocked into next week!" declared Naruto as he shook a fist threateningly.

Lee sprang up in an instant and gave off another "Good Guy" pose. "Your Flames of Youth burn brightly even through this great burden! I have much to learn from you, my Youthful Captain!" shouted Lee. Madame Promfey had by this time long given up on making them stop shouting like that.

Dumbledore on the other hand sat back in his chair with a thoughtful expression on his face. "…Human Sacrifice, eh? Seems fitting almost though I can see why you wouldn't want to be called that…" he murmured.

"I trust that you won't tell _anyone_ correct? I have this 'Oath' from you, but I'd really prefer not to have to comply with the consequences for breaking the Third's Law," asked Naruto. When he received two confirmations the blond man smiled. "This goes for you especially Lee. Out of the original Nine only you, me, traitor, and probably Shikamaru know of this. I'd prefer to keep it this way," stated Naruto.

"I swear my Youthful Friend and Captain, that I shall not reveal your great secret to anyone!" shouted Lee as tears poured down his cheeks and sparkles appeared behind him.

'_How do they manage to do that sparkle jutsu thing? If I knew how to do that I wouldn't need to worry about the Akatsuki or that traitor ever again! I could just scare them away in a second!'_ thought Naruto as he felt a sweat drop form on his golden hair.

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Dolores Umbridge sat primly and proudly on one of her beautifully pink and wonderfully fluffy cushions with a huge smile adorning her _godly_ face. This was exactly what Mr. Fudge himself had wanted! Proof that Albus Dumbledore went crazy! She would get a promotion in a few weeks and the world would be changed for the better. A perfect world: a world filled with pink fluffy furniture and violently "pretty" butterflies!

In fact, she was so sure she'd get the promotions soon! The report had been sent just a few minutes ago. In a few more minutes her promotion would arrive and the Ministry would be free of Dumbledore's riddles and lies once and for all! Ah, life is so wonderful! The world – oh the accursed world – was so _blessed_ to have her amongst them.

With a flourish of her beautiful wrist the small white owl took to the heavens, bearing an important-looking letter. Soon, soon Dumbledore shall pay for hiring a mere _boy_ to protect her—er… the students! _'Whew… can't have anyone know about that train of thought. The higher-ups with children at the school would fire me!'_

With one of her _heavenly_ smiles that would light up her entire face (AN: cough frog-face cough) the Ministry worker let out one of her young laughs. With another smile she sighed in relief. Nothing would make these Ministry no-good-doers wipe _her_ perfect mind! Never in a million years!

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Ron watched in fear as the snakes continued to slither around them despite what Harry was saying to them. This was nearly as bad as the… spiders… back in the second year. The youngest Weasley boy let out a whimper. Spiders were not cool!

Hermione awkwardly attempted to pat his back, though it was obvious she didn't know the fine subtlety required.

Ron swallowed hard as Harry doubled his efforts with the snakes. Something wasn't right. These snakes just weren't listening! _'What's wrong?'_ wondered the tallest of the children in there.

Little did he know that the answer had just arrived. There was a faint poof of smoke as someone teleported into the cave. Hermione failed to stifle a gasp as she recognized the man who had just come along.

He had the same cockatoo-style hair cut as their kidnapper had before the transformation magic had taken root, though the tips were drooping. Dried blood crusted his ripped and torn shirt as he shuffled further into their view. His sandals were literally hanging off his feet and deep bags were drooping beneath his eyes. The soft pale that the three had noticed when he had first come to Hogwarts was replaced by the same pale color one assumes after being thoroughly exhausted.

"Bloody heck," whispered Ron as the man collapsed before their eyes, but not before he had managed a nearly silent command. Ron heard Hermione whimper as one blood encrusted hand landed a few inches from her shoe.

All three bit back the bile they felt rising in their throats at the state their capturer was in.

Hermione gasped suddenly and pointed at the snakes. Ron outright swore, and nearly earned himself a slap from Hermione. Harry attempted to calm the snakes down.

Every last one of the snakes had risen, revealing sharp, wicked, white fangs. Hermione squeaked in fear as one lunged at her. Ron saw everything in slow motion as he threw himself in between the snake and Hermione. Almost instantly the snakes all lunged, though Ron dragged up every last vestige of his draining strength to take the most hits.

The last thing Ron saw were his two best friends getting bitten over and over again. And then blissful darkness overtook him.

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Right… as of now… the pole for Snape and Kyuubi's meeting/fate is:

Snape meets Kyuubi: 4

Snape doesn't meet Kyuubi: -

Snape hears stories of Kyuubi: -

Snape gets something special: -

Wow, I never would've imagined that an amazing four people would be so for Kyuubi scaring little Snapey-wapey (don't ask, you don't want to) out of his mind. **The poll is still open so feel free to vote!**

Other than that... reviews make the world go around. Keep the magnetic field that protects our lives going and make this little planet spin as if it couldn't spin any longer!


	11. Chapter 11

I'm sorry! I left on vacation and only got back today just a few minutes ago and then I lost my notes so I had to write this chapter based on my very vague story description. Ugh… this chapter may seem out of place, but my notes didn't hold any real tips on what to do after Sasuke's invasion so! You get another action-chapter thing. Enjoy and please accept my apologies!

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Disclaimer: If I owned this then it wouldn't take me an hour to draw Naruto as an ANBU.

"Mission: Big Dawg begin!" barked the silver haired boy as he watched his thirteen subordinates fly out from the shadows. Privately he patted himself on the back for his clever use of slang in context to missions. Really, who would guess that 'Big Dawg' meant entering—?

"Heh… this will certainly be fun. They'll never know what hit them."

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Naruto was woken rather rudely by his subordinate that morning. He was naturally up in a split second armed to the teeth and ready for anything. Lee had jumped backwards and landed in his random salute position.

"Captain! Dumbledore-san requests that we report to his office immediately, it's an emergency!" reported Lee as he flipped his mask back down.

Naruto nodded once and hastened to find his mask as he had been sleeping in his ANBU clothes already. The two raced to Dumbledore's office, creating eight new doors in the process. When Wolf entered the office he did not feel out of place, even with his slightly wrinkled uniform and lopsided cloak. Everyone else looked even worse with the exception of the spandex and armor clad Lee.

"You called?" asked Wolf with a small bow. Immediately Dumbledore, McGonagall, Umbridge, and Snape spun to greet the ANBU. Not one of them looked very happy or well rested.

"Just look at him! Coming in all cheerful at a time like this!" screeched a very exhausted looking Umbridge.

"Shut up! According to Albus he is the best we've got!" yelled McGonagall. Snape just sighed. Both weary women were acting as if their lives depended on who could screech louder.

"Silence ladies! Wolf… Lee, we have on our hands an emergency as I'm sure you've been informed," began Dumbledore as he stood to examine the two ANBU. "The Ministry of Magic has been attacked."

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched confused as their pale captor checked the bonds once more. Not one of them had their wands in hand, as each of them had been snapped (much to Ron's horror) and their shards were being held by their captor. The boy held a certain evil aura to him, not _as_ bad as Voldemort's but it was getting rather close.

"Just wait. Those foolish wizards will give up the secret to the power I've been searching for… heh. And it'll all be thanks to you three fools," he mumbled as the thin razor wire was tightened around the three students.

Harry swallowed hard. Somehow being captive to this psychopath wasn't ranking very high on the best-things-to-do-as-a-school-boy list. What would his family do if they knew he had been captured and held as a bargaining chip so easily?

Harry sighed in defeat, knowing that when he died his parents would be up there in heaven to yell at him. What a way to go to heaven that was!

One familiar lurch later the Trio found themselves sitting up against a wall, held down by various magical bindings. Harry and Ron both let out a gasp.

"What is it?" hissed Hermione as to not alert their captor.

"This is…" started Ron.

"The Ministry of Magic," both boys whispered.

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"Okay, boys! Move out! Our Key is bound to be here somewhere!" commanded the only female out of the fourteen infiltrators.

"Hai!" replied the other thirteen males. Despite the fact that she wasn't ranked as the highest of their organization no one was dumb enough to argue with her on a mission. That was unless they wanted to learn why ladies were considered to be some of the most feared creatures on the planet.

The blue haired girl slipped from the shadows of the entrance to the stairwell and sent a quick message to the other three members of her party.

"Okay, we're entering this ministry," she whispered, pointing to the Department of Mysteries. "Search for anything giving off a chakra signature," she commanded before teleporting off. Her three other members nodded and disappeared into the ministry.

The girl herself flittered through one door to the next; marking each of the innocent black doors with ice every time she entered. The Key would not remain hidden for long!

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Naruto and Lee disappeared before the others could blink. They knew better than to let anyone enter the Ministry even if it wasn't under their direct protection it held to much political power to be risked. They couldn't let someone break in!

And thus the two were running (because Lee couldn't teleport) at breakneck speeds just to enter the building. Naturally the two ignored the telephone booth knowing full well that the time they would waste there was too precious and that the destruction would alert the wizards to the attack.

Thus one quick earth jutsu later the two were falling right into a huge pit from Wolf's jutsu.

…And onto the pointy wand of the fountain wizard.

Wolf grunted in pain as the wand poked his rear much like the hated "One-Thousand Years of Pain!" did. Lee stared sympathetically at his captain, after all the blond had shoved the ANBU out of the way to take the blow. And boy did that blow look like it hurt!

After recovering from the rather undignified entrance the two ninja instantly began a chakra sweep of the first level. Two heads swiveled right as they felt the chakra react from the statue Wolf had landed on. Something wasn't right though… it felt different. Far too metallic for chakra bouncing off gold.

What was up with that? The two ANBU suddenly stiffened and pulled out various weapons. These infiltrators weren't wizards as the Order had thought. They were…

"Dobe."

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"Metal! Did you sense them?"

"Fire! Stay back!"

"No! That Uchiha is here and he'll take it away!"

"My foolish little brother is here?"

"Of course he's here, dang it! What are you stupid, Itachi?"

"SHUT UP! We'll let the other two ninja take care of your 'Foolish Little Brother.' _We_ need to find that Key!"

"If Konoha is really that lax about getting their ANBU to conceal their sweeps it's no surprise that you man—"

"I said 'SHUT UP!'"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Metal just sighed. So much for keeping radio silence outside of emergencies.

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The Trio looked up in hope at those words. If their captor had said that then that would mean…

"Teme!"

Their guard was here.

"Have you really come back this soon for more?" taunted Wolf. The Trio could tell he was smirking from the tone of voice he used. Well, that and the growl their captor released.

"Silence Dobe! I'll find the ultimate power and kill Itachi for sure!" shouted the Uchiha.

Wolf sighed. "You know, you go through all the time to sneak in here undetected by any magical wards and guards and all that other fancy stuff and you fail to keep silent. Geez, here I thought _I_ was supposed to be the loud one!"

The Uchiha growled furiously. Really! What kind of way was that to greet your long-lost-teammate?

"Shut up, Dobe. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course my youthful captain knows what he's talking about!" shouted the other guard, his voice echoing infinitely around the lobby.

The Uchiha sighed. "And I once _challenged_ this guy," he commented as a sweat-drop formed.

"So… if you weren't the one who originally entered and we set off the alarms for reinforcements then who were the original bad guys?" asked Wolf as he drew random numbers into the air in front of him. The Trio just stared. This was the insanely powerful guard who defeated their captor with ease? Lame!

"You know, if you just leave now I won't have to kill you," Sasuke commented as he lazily juggled a dozen of so kunai.

"Same here, Teme!"

"Yosh! The Flames of Youth shall prevail!"

"This is hopeless isn't it?" whispered Harry.

"I'm afraid so," replied Hermione.

"Bloody heck, we're going to die because our guards are lunatics!" declared Ron.

"We're going to die!" the three agreed as the anime streams of tears fell from their faces.

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"Itachi, no!"

"Fools! We need silence! The Jinchuuriki already said that he'd alerted the wizards!"

"I don't fear those stick-bearing pansies!"

"Shut up Fire! We need to stop Itachi!"

"Itachi, I demand that you desist!"

"My foolish little brother is going to die. I plan on being there to burn the remains like any Uchiha should. And I believe that our Key might react to their battle."

"Itachi… Itachi has a point!"

Metal froze. His own little sister… was actually right. If they could watch the battle if one of the two used a strong enough jutsu whose element the opposite was of or the same as the Key's then the Key would…

"Reveal itself… Come on everybody. We're going to set the trap and they'll fall for it. Hook, line, and sinker."

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I'm rather disappointed at this chapter's length, but I did manage to get it out albeit a little late. Okay, the polls. They're still open and will be closed at the end of the Ministry's problems. Thank you for all your votes and the next chapters will hopefully not seem as jumpy.

Snape meets Kyuubi: 5

Snape meets Kyuubi when attempting to hurt Naruto: 1

Snape doesn't meet Kyuubi: -

Snape hears stories of Kyuubi: 1

Snape thinks Kyuubi-Naruto is stalking him or something special: 1

Anyways, if you want to vote please do so in a review, but if you can't then a personal message or e-mail will be fine. Thank you and I'll see you next week!


	12. Chapter 12

I'm changing my update days to Saturday until late October. Robotics season starts next week and practices are on Friday afternoons until six or so. That doesn't include the fact that it takes me thirty minutes to get home, thirty more to eat, and at least forty-five minutes to do homework. For those reasons I am changing the date and you have been warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own and neither should you.

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Wolf, Lee, and Sasuke glared at each other for nearly five minutes after that declaration of battle. Not one of the three had moved a muscle since that moment, and beads of sweat were forming on their brows despite the lack of action. Somewhere in the background Ron leaned towards Hermione to ask her how long they were going to stand there before all three disappeared from their sights.

Wolf licked his lips happily as he sped off. Sparring with Lee only went so far after learning all his moves, but Sasuke? Ha! Kyuubi wouldn't interfere with this one and he had yet to learn all of the Uchiha boy's new moves. Wolf's blue eyes glinted with barely withheld excitement as he sped off even faster, hefting a kunai.

Beside him Lee was quivering with an equal (or more, scarily enough) amount of excitement. Finally! A chance to truly test his new counter before using it on his Eternal Rival!

Sasuke just glared blankly (AN: is that even possible?) at the two approaching ANBU and unsheathed two short swords from his sleeves. At last, an opportunity to gain the ultimate power! The Mangekyou Sharingan and revenge shall be attained at last!

The three shinobi locked weapons with an echoing clang. A small drop of blood fell from Lee's palm as he held back one of Sasuke's blades. The three shinobi jumped apart just as the drop graced the marble below.

"Oh come on, teme! You were harder when we were mere gennin!" shouted Naruto. Sasuke growled furiously. His power had grown ten-thousand fold under Orochimaru's tutelage! He was nothing like the weakling he was back in Konoha.

The Uchiha slipped his right blade over to his left hand and began charging a chidori that wrapped around his entire left torso and barely held its shape. Raw chakra leaked off the unsteady orb and scorched holes into the once pristine floor and walls. With a war cry the black haired man launched himself at his ex-rival, throwing the unsteady jutsu right at the Wolf ANBU's chest.

'_Heh, he'll never know what hit him, the Dobe. Unsteady jutsu were always so much more dangerous than the normal kind.'_

Wolf prepared to spin out of the way when Sasuke doubled his speed with chakra to the feet and formed another chidori. Wolf swore violently as he realized that the Uchiha would be on him in a few split seconds. The ANBU had no choice; he formed two Rasengan and prepared to jump back if necessary. He could _not_ let Lee's opportunity slip away!

While Sasuke was busy attempting to burn his ex-rival to a crisp Lee was dutifully slinking around behind the two to approach the captive students.

"Fear not for my Flames of Youth shall save you!" whispered Lee as he loosened the wire bindings around the Golden Trio. "Now escape and let your Flames of Youth grow as you increase in STRENGTH!" shouted the eccentric ANBU as he spun to attack Sasuke's defenseless back.

The three students just nodded, for once not wanting to get involved in the battle they had observed. The Trio had just managed to clear the Ministry door when they heard the black haired man shout, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Suddenly all three were pulled back as a set of arms wrapped around their waists and pulled them away just as a blazing inferno appeared inside the lobby.

"Wa—" started Harry as he wished he had his wand.

"Shh! You're safe, the Order's here," assured the smiling yet tense figure of Tonks.

"Oh, Harry, Ron, Hermione, thank goodness you're okay! Molly was going to kill everyone out of grief!" commented Mr. Weasley as he released his son.

"Just let us deal with this," commanded Albus Dumbledore. "Get out of here quickly before those three manage to alert the Muggles." It was only then that the three noticed the fact that their saviors were wearing Muggle garb and they were the only ones wearing robes.

Hermione being Hermione instantly agreed and prepared to take the small fork Dumbledore offered. When she noticed the two boys' hesitation her heel met their toes and they nodded through their tears.

Everyone's heads sprang up as they heard the cries of pain from the Order members. One new recruit was down on one knee with a kunai sticking out of the right side of his chest. The insane black haired man stood with his wrist still extended in the throwing posture.

With a smirk the Uchiha boy pulled out a long scroll and bit his thumb. One flourish of his wrist and the blood was smeared over the text and hundreds of kunai rained out at the Order members. More screams of pain and fear echoed through the Ministry building as wizard after wizard fell, numerous black knives sticking out of their bodies before they mustered the power to Apparate out.

"Pfft… such weaklings. Getting in the way of **my** revenge!" hissed Sasuke as he threw the empty scroll aside.

Only for the scroll to be pinned against the gold fountain by a thin ice senbon, nearly exactly like the type Haku used before he died.

"Thank you for assisting us in our mission," taunted a grinning girl as her blue haired head slowly rose from the water in the fountain.

Wolf being the oh-so-articulate young man he was was the first to respond. "Huh?" he asked, scratching his blond head. The girl's head slopped back down into the water as she face-faulted.

"Ugh… so uncool," muttered a brown haired boy from the shadows next to Sasuke. "Aren't ANBU supposed to be like super smart and the ultimate weapons or whatever?"

"That's what I thought too, come on give me an explanation!" demanded a masked boy next to the brown haired guy's elbow.

"Don't tell me that Konoha is seriously letting someone like you get away with that question. Itachi was right, yeah. You really are dumb, yeah," commented a blond haired girl-man.

"Where is Itachi?" demanded Sasuke as he leapt towards the… thing.

"Wow, Itachi, you're on a roll today! You got some mildly valuable information not pertaining towards our mission right, yeah!" insulted the girl-man… thing.

"Die Itachi!" screamed Sasuke as he predictably launched himself at his brother.

The ex-ANBU simply stepped aside and watched as Sasuke nearly collided with the wall behind him. _Nearly_ because to crash into a wall regardless of how close it was is an embarrassment to the Uchiha name and _of course_ the name still _means_ something.

The slightly bruised Uchiha glared at his brother as his red Sharingan eyes began to appear. The two just glared at each other as if fighting over who could make their Sharingan spin faster. Everyone else just sweat dropped. Behold! The Uchiha pride at work!

"Stupefy!" growled Moody as he leveled his wand at the brothers. As expected both Uchiha jumped apart and the red beam of sparks flew to the golden fountain.

"Itachi?" asked Metal as he glanced at the elder Uchiha. He had been getting a weird vibe from this place recently and that ricochet…

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" shouted Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto all at once, each for their own reasons. Naruto mentally pouted when his own flickering fireball collided with the Uchihas' Well, so much for testing ones own fire jutsu against the fire jutsu masters.

The flickering flames illuminated the room and the fountain beside the fires. Water was jumping out fanning her rear as a flame licked the water patch she had inhabited earlier. Everyone, including the fire breathers, froze as they saw the fountain begin to glow of its own light. Metal nodded in approval, he had been right after all.

At once all the shinobi and wizards hit the floor, rolling aside to dodge the exploding fountain pieces. Water began bawling over the evaporation of her precious pool.

The five elements were the first on their feet. Almost instantly Metal's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he stared at the largest fragment of the fountain, a wizard's head that still glowed golden even after the grand fireballs had been extinguished.

"The Key…" he whispered as he staggered towards the head of the fountain. Almost instantly the four other elements began chanting in some language that sounded almost like the Kyuubi's growls, barks, and grunts.

Wolf jerked away as he felt the necklace around his neck grow heavier. The blond man glanced down at the green stone to notice a faint glowing buried deep within, though growing with each word the elements chanted. Somewhere from the depths of his mind he felt the words rising unbidden as if demanding that he chant alongside the four sane Akatsuki leaders.

His blue eyes widened as he felt the next words of the chant on his tongue. His masked jaw strained to open and the ANBU had to mentally command himself not to speak the next lines. The ANBU glanced around the room to stare right at Itachi's unwavering gaze.

'_It's as if he expects me to stat chanting. Wait… it's as if they're all waiting for me to! What is this?'_ wondered Wolf as his conscious began to waver. Whatever ancient jutsu they were using it was drawing too much demon chakra from him. In fact it felt as if they were using him as a battery for the jutsu! But he wasn't actively participating in this! How were they doing it?

The red power began to burst through his system and was quickly drawn towards a ball of chakra forming behind Metal's back and between the other four. The last thing Wolf saw was tainted silver chakra being pulled from Metal and a cold metallic feeling flowing through his system rather than the normal boiling feeling of Kyuubi's chakra. Wolf's blue eyes rolled into his skull just before anyone could see it; Kyuubi's defining features, the claws, slits for pupils, the extended whiskers, and fangs.

No one saw the red eyes gain a silver undertone or the slight crack appearing on his left iris.

**--------------------**

I'm sorry it's so short. **Time is running out for the Snape meeting Kyuubi poll. The last chance shall be next chapter.**

Snape meets Kyuubi: 8

- Snape meets Kyuubi when intending to do harm: 3

Snape doesn't meet Kyuubi: -

Snape hears stories of Kyuubi: 2

Snape gets something special (Snape thinks Kyuubi-Naruto is stalking him): 2

Okay, other than that, I know there are at least fifty people who have this story on their alerts. If everyone reviewed I'd be really happy, and I know if you don't. So the point is... please review! I honestly read everyone's reviews and am more than willing to answer questions.


	13. Chapter 13

Before I begin… there was a reason why Naruto had his _left_ iris crack. I was hoping someone would notice, but it's okay that no one did.

Now that that's out of the picture… starts running and screaming from impatient readers I'm sorry! If you read my profile you'd know why it took me an eternity and a half to appear! Oh, and **I don't own anything!**

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'_The voices outside… are loud,'_ decided Naruto with a frown. _'Why can't everyone just shut up? Life is just so much simpler when no one talks…'_

"Lee, sir! He's waking!"

'_Geez. What did _I_ do to deserve that killer headache-causing voice? If this is heck… I want the fire!'_

"Yosh! His Flames of Youth are rekindled!"

'_Ugh! No! Give me back the old voice!'_

"Continue the investigation at once, my youthful subordinates!"

'_Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shu—'_

"No worries, my youthful captain! All shall be set right once more, soon!"

'_Shut up! Shut up! Shut—'_

"**What kind of lame vessel do I have that can't even manage to WAKE UP!"**

"Waah!" shouted Naruto as his once-sapphire blue eyes shot open. Everyone in the destroyed Ministry stared at the panting ANBU. "Stupid fox… go buzz off or something," muttered the ANBU Captain as he steadied his breathing. Deep inside the barrier created by the seal one evil demon fox rolled over in his equivalent to evil laughter.

"Captain!" shouted Lee as he snapped off his horribly wavy salute.

"Ugh… I must be back in heck," complained Naruto as he massaged his temples. "Lee-demon, where's my mask?"

"Right here, my Youthful Captain!" shouted Lee as he tossed (AN: I meant threw-with-the-force-of-one-thousand-charging-animals) the wolfish mask to the other shinobi. Naruto tiredly reached up and caught the spinning mask and slipped it on over his pale face without a second thought.

"Tell me, Lee-demon, what all happened here?" asked Wolf as he gazed blankly at the lobby. His memories were slowly coming back, something about silver and gold and lots of red.

"Of course, Captain! I did not expect you to remember after that huge chakra expulsion!" shouted Lee as the wizards and witches slowly returned to work, after all, if they watched that crazy spandex-ninja too much they might turn out like him! "Basically the Akatsuki ninja were using an un-youthful leeching technique that took you-know-who's power and pooled it with their own. The resulting chakra explosion from you-know-who and their technique when it was finished released these explosions of youthful might and decimated everyone!" explained Lee as he handed a few chakra pills to his Captain.

Wolf nodded a few times, gratefully crunching away on the miracle pills and being blissfully oblivious to the stares they were receiving. "So basically you-know-who blew away the entire building? Dangit! Property bills are getting too expensive!" muttered Wolf as he slowly rose from the white stretcher he had been laying on a few seconds prior.

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The rest of the clean-up went pretty fast now that Wolf was awake. A few terse commands were given and the entire room was documented right down to the last place someone spat or dropped a Knut and was attempting to pick it up. In the end the building was being rebuilt as the ANBU and Order were disappearing. Wolf was thoroughly angry by the end, however.

Two and a half hours spent on one investigation scene – a battle scene he himself had participated in! – and all he had learned of the Trio was that Hermione had supposedly altered her escape route and disappeared with the boys. What kind of self-respecting ANBU _Captain_ walked around with that hovering over his head?

And thus explained why Wolf's mask was now in chips and pieces on the cobblestone floor of Hogwarts. Bah, who cared about the mask? The house-elves would fix it before the day was done anyways.

His charge had just disappeared.

Again.

Naruto felt like screaming and releasing a lot of chakra. And maybe Kyuubi's too. It was just so frustrating! Almost like the entire Sasuke episode where the Uchiha prick came back only to attack and run away again only… without the fighting the one you just saved thing.

With a furious (and stressed) groan-growl hybrid the jinchuuriki fell into his overly fluffy bed. Not even the sinfully soft beds could help hold their share of the faults the captain held.

"Why can't life ever be easy?" asked Naruto, momentarily forgetting the best piece of advice ever given to him.

"If life was easy, then what would be life?" asked the full-length mirror hanging next to the door.

Never talk to yourself. Oh, and don't let the mirrors try to go all philosophical. They'd just confuse you and themselves.

"Shut up you!" shouted Naruto as he glared at the mirror's innocent surface. A perfectly innocent picture was being reflected and it wasn't as if there was any face besides his own to punch. A perfectly innocent reflection of blue-silver eyes, that is.

"The heck?" murmured Naruto as he hesitantly reached towards his own eyes, which were sapphire blue last he checked, thank you very much. "Mirror, if this is a joke you aren't going to last through the elves' repairs," warned the angry ANBU. The mirror wisely decided not to reply. Those kunai were _sharp_. And when he grew claws… oh the horror!

The ANBU continued to scowl at the mirror's surface as he stared at every reflective surface – kunai, katana blade, water jug, water in the jug, glass – only to see the same blue-silver eyes staring back at him.

'_Kyuubi… I'm really angry right now. If this is your idea of a joke you shall pay. _Dearly.'

"**You really think that I, Kyuubi, Lord of the Nine Tailed Beasts, would turn your eyes _gray?"_** demanded the demonic voice in the back of Naruto's mind. **_"I_, being Kyuubi, Lord of the Nine Tailed Beasts, and a pure genius, would turn your eyes a more menacing color than I'm-out-of-my-mind-_gray."_**

'_Then _how_ do you propose that I got this change overnight? If you're a genius wouldn't you know?'_ Much to an angry Naruto's growing fury a lazy yawn echoed from the depths of his mind.

"**Of course I know what that was. That was a Key, used to unlock the seals of… of… of…"**

'_What? Is Kyuubi _afraid?'

"**No! Her name is just taboo and unfitting for a Lord such as me to utter!"**

'_In other words you're scared stiff of someone who needs a bunch of keys. And it's a _girl!'

"**Shut up! All it was was an ancient – and I mean as ancient as me – purifying technique used to keep _her_ away."**

'_So basically it's a way to keep some _girl_ away. Who was it? Your old _girlfriend?'

"**Demons don't have girlfriends!"**

'_Liar. How else did you breed?'_

"**Shut up, mortal! If all the Keys are purified using that technique the… our… mum will come back."**

'_So, Kyuubi, "Greatest of all the Bijuu," is afraid of his _mom?'

"**I said to shut up, mortal! The release of mum is what robbed me of my chakra as she naturally leeches demonic chakra."**

'_So this "great and ancient technique" steals demonic chakra? Oh, watch me quake in my sandals. I DON'T USE THAT MUCH OF _YOUR_ CHAKRA, FURBALL!'_

"**As I was saying before your pitiful mortal tongue interrupted me… the sudden loss of my chakra created a hole in you."**

'_A ho—'_

"**Mortal, shut up! As I was saying, this hole was filled by my survival techniques. I stole the chakra surrounding you to fill the void before your pitiful mortal body realized that too much was gone."**

'_So you stole the chakra from the tiles, big whoop. What's so great about that?'_

"**It wasn't from the tiles, idiot! The largest source for me to steal came from that white haired guy with the silver eyes. I just stole that and infused it with my own. Of course, he didn't notice a thing and there are some benefits…"**

'_Which include…? What? An instant power supply? A copy of his freaky bloodline? Dashing good looks?'_

"**No. The ability to use his "freaky bloodline" when you use _my_ chakra," **answered Kyuubi with an evil smirk.

Naruto's face instantly fell. Great, so he _finally _gets his own bloodline only to find out that it requires that fur ball's help. "Someone up there must hate me," moaned the ANBU captain.

"**On the brighter side (to you) of things… if you use it enough the ability might become ingrained in your own system."**

'_Yeah right, fur ball. You just want me to uses your chakra!'_

"**I told you that from the… goodness of my heart,"** struggled Kyuubi as if the mere thought of such "goodness" hurt.

'_As if. You're too evil to have a heart.'_

Deep inside the seal Kyuubi pretended to weep.

---------------------------------

Snape frowned as he finished off the after-shower conditioner. Those witches didn't make these conditioners like they used to.

While the fact that conditioner bottles running low quickly were troubling, that wasn't the main reason he was frowning. Something wasn't right about that permanent guard.

'_How could he store so much magical power? Dumbledore may be strong, but he could never release so much _evil_ energy at once. Not even at the height of his 'righteous' fury. Not even the Dark Lord is that evil.'_

Snape stood quickly and picked up a new conditioner bottle. After all, his hair wasn't perfect without these miraculous products.

'_But that boy, how could he release so much evilness when he's _unconscious?_ Last I checked the Dark Lord could only release his supreme evilness when he was awake and after the daily caffeine. Why would he be here if he's so strong? Why wasn't he out on the field directly destroying the Dark Lord? Was he here for him or for someone else? And if he was here for anyone here why hadn't he struck by now?'_

Snape shuddered at the thought. That _monster_ could easily overpower the entire school _without_ breaking a sweat!

'_So… why was he here? Where did this power come from? Why did he faint shortly after the ball appear?'_

"Dang!" swore Snape as the conditioner's contents dribbled onto his favorite black satin robes.

"Why is it that he is capable of bringing misfortune to me without actually _being here?"_ shouted the potions teacher to the first floor.

---------------------------------

I know that it's been forever, but please forgive me. The Snape-Kyuubi polls are still up! The fate shall be sealed in **chapter 15.** That means I'm not taking any more votes once chapter 15 is up. The current standings are:

Snape meets Kyuubi: 11

Snape meets Kyuubi meaning to do harm: 3

Snape doesn't meet Kyuubi: -

Snape hears stories of Kyuubi: 2

Snape gets something special (Snape thinks Kyuubi-Naruto is stalking him): 2

Other than that, please review. I updated, didn't I? And thank you dragondancer123 for pointing out just how long it has been since I last touched this story.


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